IJCSB  LIBRARY 


i  G  y\ 

*          /  / 


POPULAR  PROGRESS 


THE  CAUSE  OP  AGEICTJLTUSAL  AND 
INDUSTRIAL  DEPSESSION, 


TIHCIE 


REV.  THOMAS  DONOHOE,  D.  1). 

Author  of  "THE  ZKOQUOS  AND  THE  JiZBUITS  " 


BUFFALO,  N.  Y. : 

PRESS  OF  MURRAY  &   DAWSON. 
1898. 


COPYRIGHT,  1898,  BY  REV.  THOMAS  DONOHOE,  D.  D. 


PREFACE. 

Are  the  ebb  and  flow  of  our  prosperity  pro- 
duced by  accidental  causes,  or  is  there  something 
radically  wrong  in  the  industrial  system,  which 
produces  such  general  and  long-continued  de- 
pression in  a  country  of  such  vast  resources? 

Every  good  citizen  must  grieve  to  behold  deso- 
lation spreading  through  this  fair  land,  in  the 
wake  of  that  insatiable  monster,  "hard  times," 
that  has  been  devouring  the  substance  of  the 
poor  and  has  crushed  out  many  a  feeble  life; 
and  his  heart  must  yearn  for  the  day  when  pros- 
perity shall  again  smile  on  the  toiler's  task  and 
bring  happiness  and  comfort  to  his  home. 

That  there  has  been  a  great  deal  of  suffering 
in  the  land  is  a  lamentable  fact,  too  often  ignored 
by  state  and  national  authorities,  because  there  has 
been  no  general  clamor  for  relief;  and  as  poverty 
in  the  eyes  of  society  is  a  sin  or  a  crime,  people 
would  prefer  to  suffer  in  silence  rather  than 
make  known  their  weakness  or  guilt. 


IV. 

When  a  plague  sweeps  over  the  land,  mark- 
ing its  path  with  suffering,  with  ruin  and  with 
death,  the  sympathy  and  the  generosity  of  a 
imlile  people  are  aroused,  and  all  the  skill  and  in- 
telligence that  money  can  procure  or  that  au- 
thority can  compel  are  brought  into  play,  to 
bring  relief  and  restore  health  to  the  land.  The 
industrial  plague,  known  as  "hard  times,"  is 
more  insidious  in  its  nature,  more  mysterious  in 
its  origin  than  any  physical  epidemic;  yet,  it  is 
IK.  less  far  reaching  in  its  effects  and  disastrous  in 
its  results.  The  physical  plague  will  mark  its 
victims  with  outward  and  unmistakable  symp- 
toms of  disease,  but  the  industrial  malady  merely 
marks  the  gaunt  features  of  its  prey  with  the 
lines  of  want  and  care,  or  clutches  the  heart,  and 
stifles  every  outward  evidence  of  shameful  weak 
ness. 

The  two  great  political  parties  have  promised 
that  the  adoption  of  their  principles  would  bring 
a  penacea  for  all  our  ills,  and  would  even  restore 
healthful  conditions  to  the  land,  but  hope  too 
long  deferred  has  wearied  and  made  sad  the 
hearts  of  a  patient  people. 


V. 

If  we  can  disc-over  the  true  cause  of  our 
malady,  it  should  be  within  our  province  to  effect 
a  cure. 

The  laud  yields  immense  food  crops;  so 
abundant,  in  fact,  are  these  crops  some  years 
that  it  does  not  pay  to  harvest  them,  and  they 
are  allowed  to  rot  in  the  fields,  or  our  consuls 
and  merchants  seek  a  market  in  foreign  coun- 
t  ries  for  the  surplus  products  that  cannot  be  sold 
at  home;  and  all  this  time  strong,  able-bodied 
men  with  willing  hands,  often  skilled  in  special 
callings,  are  starving  in  sight  of  plenty.  Our 
manufactures,  mines,  etc.,  like  the  land,  turn  out 
more  products  than  can  be  consumed;  yet,  there 
are  hundreds  of  thousands  of  idle  hands,  but 
they  have  no  work  and  can  get  no  money  to  buy 
the  comforts,  or  even  the  necessaries  of  life. 

This  country  should  not  only  be  the  land  of 
plenty,  but  also  the  home  of  peace.  Isolated 
from  the  great  powers  of  the  world  by  immense 
tracts  of  ocean,  and  with  a  smaller  neighbor  pur- 
suing kindred  interests  on  her  northern  border, 
she  need  not  fear  any  external  enemy,  and 
should  not  have  any  internal  foe.  People  govern 


VI. 

themselves,  at  least  in  theory,  and  make  their 
own  laws;  and  if  prosperity  can  he  controlled  by 
government  or  law,  then  the  remedy  is  within 
easy  reach. 

\Vhen  men  see  plenty  all  about  them,  of  which 
they  are  denied  a  part,  and  luxury  in  which  they 
cannot  share,  though  they  may  be  able  and  will- 
ing to  toil  for  a  pittance,  they  cannot  be  in  love 
with  conditions  which  seem  to  cast  all  nature's 
favors  at  the  feet  of  the  few.  These  men  may 
have  families,  may  have  little  ones  at  home  look- 
ing for  the  coming  of  the  bread  winner,  "bearing 
his  sheaves,"  and  then  want  will  breed  discon- 
tent and  incipient  rebellion. 

Shall  the  strong  protect  and  help  the  Aveak;. 
or  is  warfare  the  natural  condition  of  man,  and 
the  brute  struggle  for  the  survival  of  the  fittest 
the  ultimate  destiny  of  the  race?  As  this  is  the 
age  of  reason,  all  disputes  should  be  settled  by 
appeal  to  the  higher  intelligence,  and  in  no  land 
should  this  be  so  easily  effected  as  here  where  the 
governing  power  is  in  the  hands  of  the  people. 
Rumblings  of  discontent  may  be  heard,  but  they 
are  only  the  bellowings  of  brute  force,  manifest- 


VII. 

ing  l»y  dmnb.  but  intelligible  nppeal,  the  revolt 
of  the  great  army  of  toilcr>  against  the  injustice 
of  the  present  industrial  system.  Anarchy,  too, 
and  socialism,  favored  by  disturbed  condition?, 
like  dark  clouds,  may  be  seen  above  the  horizon 
Pol-lending  storms  and  destruction. 

This  country  has  passed  tlirough  many  great 
crimes  in  her  history,  but  the  good  sense  and 
patrioti.-m  of  her  people  have  rallied  to  her 
cause  and  have  enabled  her  to  triumph.  The 
proper  province  of  '  iovernment  is  to  promote  the 
welfare  of  its  people,  not  indeed  by  providing 
happiness,  but  by  placing  within  the  reach  of  all 
the  means  of  procuring  happiness  for  themselves 
by  their  exertion  and  toil.  If  conditions  have 
arisen  which  tend  to  limit  the  means  of  procur- 
ing a  livelihood,  and  thus  exclude  a  large  portion 
of  citizens  from  the  pmvuits  of  happiness,  it  is 
ilic  duty  of  (lovernment  to  re-adjust  those  con- 
ditions to  the  requirements  of  the  public  welfare. 
Tin's  is  not  paternalism;  it  is  justice. 

The  author  has  sought  to  point  out  the  fads 
and  to  suggest  methods  of  relief;  and  if  this 
little  work  only  serves  to  throw  some  light  upon 


VIII. 

the  true  onuses  of  and  the  remedies  W  indur- 
trial  depressions,  his  labors  shall  not  have  1>  -en 
in  vain. 

It  is  well  that  one  free  from  the  traditional 
theories  and  the  meanin^le-s  cant  of  I  he  schools, 
and  independent  of  the  crude  aspirations  rnd  the 
aims  of  organized  labor.,  should  discuss  question- 
which  have  such  important  hearing  u[)on  the 
prosperity  and  civilization  of  America. 

THOMAS  DOXOllOK. 

liulTalo,  X.  Y.,  February,  1S98. 


PAGE. 

CHAPTER  L— Agriculture,  1 

CHAPTER  II.— Shoemaking,  28 

CHAPTER  III.— Cloth  and  Clothing,  -  41 

CHAPTER  IV.— Carpentry,  78 

CHAPTER  V.— Prison  Labor,  87 

CHAPTER  VI.— Inventions,  95 

CHAPTER  VIL— Laws  and  Lawmaking,  127 

CHAPTER  VIII. —Taxation,  144 

CHAPTER  IX.— Remedies,  164 

CHAPTER  X.— The  Outlook,  206 


CHAPTER  I. 
AGRICULTURE. 

Agriculture  claimed  the  first  attention  of  the 
human  race.  The  fields  yielded  teeming  har- 
vests to  the  careful  tillers  of  the  soil;  herds  and 
Hocks  supplied  food  and  raiment  in  abundance. 
whilst  varied  cares  and  rural  scenes  made  life 
pleasant  amid  God's  creation. 

In  every  newly-settled  laud  the  first  occupa- 
tion of  the  settler  is  the  tilling  of  the  soil,  for  in 
this  way  may  be  found  all  that  is  needed  to  sup- 
ply the  wants  of  incipient  society.  The  early 
American  colonists  cultivated  a  bit  of  cleared 
ground,  whilst  they  built  their  rude  log  cabins 
for  shelter  and  sought  in  the  hunt  the  furs  of 
wild  animals  to  barter  at  the  trading  posts  for  the 
products  of  Europe. 

Agriculture  was  the  staple  of  work  and  the 
standard  of  wages.  In  the  colonial  period  there 
was  very  little  manufacture  in  the  land.  AVomon 
of  the  farm  carded  and  spun  the  wool,  and  wove 
the  cloth  for  the  household,  and  bartered  the  sur- 
plus for  luxuries  or  for  the  articles  of  urban  or 


2  roni.AR  ]'I;<H,KES$. 

foreign  make.  The  wages'"'  paid  the  fiirin  bnml 
nrulated  the  pay  in  every  other  branch  of  in- 
dustry. Laborers  were  scarce/"""  ;ind  the  supply 
\vjis  not  equal  to  the  <lcin;iml.  .Men  preferred 
(lie  independence  of  individual  ownership  to  sub- 
servient employment,  especially  as  the  former 
was  an  easy  road  to  comparative  affluence. 

The  advantages  of  farm  life  were  not  swept 
a,-ide  by  the  advancing  tide  of  immigration,  but 
continued  and  even  increased  up  to  the  last 
I  \\enty-fi\v  or  thirty  years.  The  great  number 
of  men  prominent  in  every  walk  of  life,  who 
were  reared  on  the  farm,  prove  plainly  that  this 
calling  is  eminently  suited  to  nourish  all  the 
elements  of  independent,  sturdy  manhood.  The 
pleasant,  prosperous  homes  that  dotted  the  land 
until  recent  years  tell  us  clearly  that  men  en- 
gaged in  this  field  of  industry  attained  wealth  as 
well  as  independence.  Men  will  seek  lucrative 
employment  or  occupation,  even  though  it  eii- 

*Wages,  for  some  \  oars,  was  established  by  law. 
In  1633  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  decided  that 
two  shillings  without  board,  'or  fourteen  pence 
with  board,  a  day,  should  be  the  pay  of  mechan- 
ics. (Carroll  D.  Wright). 

**Hence,  the  introduction  of  slavery. 


AGRICULTURE.  3 

tails  physical  discomfort  or  the  loss  of  social 
amenity.  As  long  as  fields  yielded  remunerative 
returns  for  the  labor  expended  on  them,  men 
were  ready  to  till  them,  and  any  loss  of  social 
comfort  could  be  easily  compensated  by  the 
monetary  reward  of  farm  life.  As  soon  as  agri- 
culture ceased  to  make  a  fair  return  for  the  capi- 
tal and  labor  expended,  it  lost  also  its  charm,  and 
people,  especially  the  young,  sought  more  lucra- 
tive and  attractive  opportunities  in  the  towns. 
Until  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  ago  the  condi- 
tion of  the  farm  owner,  or  even  the  farm  laborer, 
was  vastly  superior  to  that  of  the  laborer  or 
artisan  of  the  town.  The  farm  owner  could  pay 
for  his  farm  in  a  few  years.  In  succeeding 
years  there  would  be  no  hideous  spectres  of  want 
to  disturb  his  dream  of  ease.  Even  the  farm 
hand  received  good  pay;  and  with  steady  em- 
ployment and  little  expense,  for  his  wants  were 
few,  he  could  look  forward  to  the  not  far  dis- 
tant day  when  he  would  be  on  an  equal  footing 
with  his  employer. 

In  1866  wheat  sold  at  $2.19,  corn  at  68  cents, 
oats  at  50  cents,  rye  at  $1.19,  barley  at  $1.00, 


4  roiTLAK    PROGRESS. 

potatoes  ;it  <I,s  cents,  buckwheat  at  !»7  cents  ;in«l 
hay  at  $14.r>0  per  ton.  The  price-  of  different 
articles  varied  with  the  season:  hut  the  ahove  list 
is  a  pretty  fair  average  of  ruling  prices  for  a 
hum  period.  In  1^S>5  the  prevailing  prices  for 
ahove  articles  were:  AYheat  50  cents,  corn  '1~> 
cents,  oats  1  !J  cents,  rye  44  cents,  barley  :'>•'> 
cents,  potatoes  2<>  cents  and  hay  $S.I>5  per  ton. 
In  the  following  year  prices  were  still  lower,  ex- 
cepting for  wheat,  which  arose  in  price  in  the 
late  fall  on  account  of  the  failure  of  the  crop  in 
India. 

With  the  prices  of  thirty  years  ago  for  his 
produce  the  farmer  conld  live  in  comfort,  could 
pay  for  his  farm,  could  allow  his  children,  in  the 
winter  season  at  least,  to  enjoy  the  advantages 
of  higher  education  offered  by  the  towns,  and 
could  indulge  in  many  of  the  luxuries  of  life. 
AY  hen  this  fundamental  and  most  extensive 
branch  of  industry  was  in  a  prosperous  condition, 
it  stimulated  trade  in  every  other  class  of  me- 
chanical and  manufacturing  labor.  The  farmer 
could  afford  to  buy  more  and  better  clothes  for 
his  family,  lie  could  have  better  buildings  and 


AGRICULTURE.  5 

more  costly  furniture  for  his  home,  and  could 
have  better  stock  and  implements  for  his  farm. 
As  a  necessary  sequence  all  this  included  a 
greater  demand  for  the  product  of  the  loom, 
more  work  for  the  carpenter,  the  painter,  the 
cabinet  maker  and  allied  trades,  and  more  money 
to  expend  on  many  little  luxuries  of  various 
kinds.  The  farms  through  Xew  York  State  will 
average  over  ninety  acres,  and  in  the  season  of 
high  prices  the  income  of  the  farmer  should 
range  from  $1,200  to  $2,000  a  year;  but  with 
this  income  diminished  one-half,  or  two-thirds, 
by  low  prices,  the  farmer  must  exercise  economy 
to  live;  and  dependent  branches  of  trade  will 
suffer  depression  from  his  loss. 

The  annual  products  of  the  average  farm  in 
the  United  States  should  be  sufficient  to  sup- 
port a  family  in  comfort  and  even  luxury.  In 
France  there  are  over  5,000,000  leasers  and 
owners  of  land  engaged  in  cultivating  the  soil, 
and  these  farms  average  less  than  ten*  acres;  yet 
France  is  the  most  prosperous  country  in  the 
world.  Why  is  not  prosperity  the  reward  of  the 

*Eight   and  three-fourths  acres.     (Leslie). 


tJ  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

American  farmer?  For  many  years,  notwith- 
standing the  capital  invested,  his  income  lias  not 
exceeded  that  of  the  common  laborer  with  no 
capital  but  his  strong  arms,  or  perhaps,  a  shovel. 

The  population  of  the  state  has  about  doubled 
in  twenty  years;  railroads  have  been  built 
through  the  land,  bringing  the  farms  closer  to 
the  markets;  wealth  and  the  demand  for  food 
products  have  enormously  increased  in  the  same 
[ici-iod.  Improvements  in  farm  implements 
have  kept  pace  with  the  progress  in  every  other 
branch  of  industry.  Every  farmer  has  his  mow- 
ing machines,  his  reaper  and  binder,  his  patent 
drill  and  sower,  to  enable  him  to  increase  his 
crops  and  lessen  his  expense. 

In  the  large  farms  of  the  A\rest  and  the  South, 
steam  is  utilized  to  draw  the  plows,  to  reap  the 
harvest  and  to  thrash  the  grain.  'The  biggest 
wheat  harvester  in  the  world  is  in  use  for  the 
liivt  time  on  Robert  Island,  in  the  San  Juaquin 
river  near  Stockton,  California.  This  machine 
has  a  cutting  line  of  fifty-two  feet,  and  it  also 
'threshes  and  sacks  the  grain.  This  it  does  at  the 
rate  of  three  sixty-pound  sacks  of  wheat  every 


AGRICULTURE.  7 

minute.      In  one  rim    around  a  field  of  4,000 

acre-  it  will  turn  out  many  sacks  of  wheat  ready 
for  the  market.  It  has  reduced  the  cost  of  har- 
vesring  to  a  minimum,  and  the  number  of  days 
consumed  in  getting  a  large  field  ready  for  mar- 
ket will  be  about  half  that  of  the  regular  har- 
vester. Eight  or  ten  men  handle  it  easily,  while 
ir  is  turning  out  from  1,500  to  1,800  sacks  a  day 
of  ten  hours,  and  sweeping  100  acres  of  grain 
clean.  Xo  difficulty  has  been  experienced  in 
harvesting,  as  the  traction  engine,  which  was 
built  especially  for  the  machine,  pushes  it 
through  the  thick  grain  with  about  the  same 
rase  that  an  ordinary  engine  would  draw  a  wagon 
over  a  country  road.  A  general  employment  of 
these  machines  in  all  the  great  grain  fields  of  the 
northwestern  and  ihe  Pacific  slope  states,  will 
enable  American  wheat  growers  to  lead  all  other 
nations  in  the  production  of  that  great  staple  of 
commerce."' 

Twenty  years  ago  all  this  work  was  done  by 
hand.  Five  or  six  men  were  employed  in  the 
planting  season,  whore  but  one  or  two  are  re- 

*New  York  Paper. 


8  POPULAR  PROGRKSS. 

quired  at  present.  Scores  of  men  filled  the  har- 
ve>t  fields,  for  five  or  six  weeks  at  very  hiah 
v, aaes,  to  mow  the  hay  and  reap  the  grain.  At 
early  morning  the  men  went  forth  with  their 
scythe  or  their  sickle  to  labor  long  and  hard  it  is 
true,  but  joyfully,  for  the  reward  sweetened  their 
labor.  Two  or  three  men  to  supplement  the 
work  of  machines  are  all  that  are  needed  now  to 
do  the  work  of  the  scores  of  harvesters  of  former 
years.  The  click  and  hum  of  steel  have  driven 
out  the  merry  laugh,  the  jest  and  jibe,  of  the 
toilers  of  former  days. 

The  farming  population  has  not  increased  in 
the  same  proportion  as  the  towns,  notwithstand- 
ing all  these  improvements,  and  very  many  good 
farms  in  our  most  populous  states*  have  been 
abandoned  because  not  sufficiently  remunerative 
to  sustain  an  ordinary  family. 

In  1790  one-thirtieth  of  the  population  of  the 
Tinted  States  lived  in  cities  of  8,000  or  more  in- 
habitants. In  1880  the  proportion  of  city  dwel- 
lers had  increased  to  nearly  one-fourth  of  the 

*There  are  many  abandoned   farms   in   the   cen 
tral  part  of  Isew  York. 


AGRICULTURE.  9 

whole.  The  population  of  the  State  of  Xew 
York  has  about  doubled  in  forty  years,  from 
1  s:>0  to  1890,  but  the  population  of  the  cities  has 
multiplied  from  four  to  ten  times  in  the  same 
period. 

The  wheat  production,  of  Xew  York  State  had 
fallen  from  1870  to  1800  from  12,178,462  to 
*.:'.<>4,:>:}!)  bushels,  whilst  the  wheat  yield  of  the 
entire  country  had  nearly  doubled  in  the  same 
time.  The  farms  of  Xew  York  are  close  to  the 
center  of  population  of  the  country,  and  are 
•\\ithii)  easy  reach  of  the  great  marts  and  the  food 
consuming  regions  of  the  world,  yet  they  can- 
not compete  in  grain  raising  with  the  great  farms 
of  the  far  distant  Xorth  "West.  The  cost  of  trans- 
portation fr<,m  tlicse  farms  to  the  seaboard,  or 
through  the  milling  centers  to  the  markets,  is 
very  great,  but  the  immense  quantity  produced 
at  a  diminished  cost  through  the  use  of  machin- 
ery, makes  grain  raising  in  the  "West  a  profitable 
business. 

The  quantity  of  wheat  raised  in  the  Dakotas 
alone  increased  from  170,662  bushels  in  1870 
to  42,944,503  bushels  in  1890,  whilst  the  popu- 


10  FOrt'LAR  PROGRESS. 

Intion  of  this  region  incroa>ed  only  from  14,189 
to  f>  11,5^7,  in  the  same  period.  The  wheat 
yield  had  multiplied  itself  over  250  thru 
twenty  years,  whilst  the  population  of  the  terri- 
tory had  multiplied  itself  but  about  thirty-five 
times. 

The  number  of  large  farms  has  greatly  in- 
creased in  recent  years.  Within  the  last  ceii-Hi* 
de.-ade,  from  1SSO  to  1800,  the  number  of  farms 
containing  between  500  and  1,000  acres  has  in- 
creased over  eleven  per  cent.,  whilst  2,968  farms 
of  1,000  or  more  acres  were  enumerated.  One 
farm  in  the  South  West,  which  was  formed  with- 
in the  above  period,  contains  upwards  of  1,500,- 
000  acres.  All  the  cultivating  on  this  immense 
farm  is  done  by  steam  power.  A  large  tract,  say 
half  a  mile  wide,  is  taken,  and  an  engine  isplaced 
at  either  side.  These  engines  are  portable,  and 
operate  cables  attached  to  plows.  Three,  men 
under  this  system  can  plow  thirty  acres  of  land  i" 
a  single  day.  The  harrowing  and  planting  of 
different  kinds  are  done  in  a  similar  manner. 
There  are  great  farms  in  the  North  West  which 
are  operated  on  a  like  gigantic  scale,  the  level 


AGRICULTURE.  -Q 

prairie  land  being  peculiarly  adapted  to  this  form 
of  farming. 

These  great  farms  of  the  West,  which  have 
been  called  "Bonanza  Farms,"  began  about  1875. 
Before  that  time  it  would  have  been  a  risky 
business  venture  to  attempt  to  cultivate  thou- 
sands of  acres  with  uncertain  and  high-priced  la- 
1><  >r,  and  with  an  inconstant  and  vacillating  mar- 
ket. About  the  year  1875  mowing  machines, 
labor-saving  reapers  and  cultivators  began  to  be 
extensively  employed  on  farms,  displacing  a  vast 
number  of  men,  thus  making  the  management 
of  large  farms  not  only  possible,  but  also  very 
profitable.  With  a  foreman  and  two  or  three 
men,  and  a  full  supply  of  labor-saving  machines, 
a  doctor  or  a  lawyer  could  pursue  his  profession 
in  the  city  and  operate  a  vast  farm  in  the  grain 
U-lt.  A  knowledge  of  farming  was  not  neces- 
sary. It  was  sufficient  to  know  that  it  was  a  very 
profitable  investment,  which  would  yield  from 
fifty  to  500  per  cent.  I  have  known  a  railroad 
conductor  in  the  State  of  Xew  York  to  run  an 
extensive  wheat  farm  in  Dakota,  by  merely  tak- 
ing a  pleasant  trip  of  a  few  weeks,  twice  a  year 


12  PfMTI.AK  PROGRESS. 

to  bis  farm  to  see  tl:;il  ilic  LTain  was  -owed,  and 
the  harvest  gathered,  threshed  and  sold.  These 
farms  are  owned  by  men  in  England,  in  Ireland 
and  in  different  parts  of  the  K:i  tern  states.  They 
can  be  run  at  a  fair  profit,  with  wheat  at  twenty- 
five  cents  a  bushel,  and  collosal  fortunes  must  be 
made  for  their  owners  when  wheat  command! 
seventy  or  more  cents  in  the  market. 

The  small  farmer  cannot  compete  with  these 
extensive  enterprises,  and  they  are  forced  from 
the  field,  or  are  compelled  to  limit  their  labors 
to  1  tranches  of  farming  where  less  capital  is  re- 
quired, but  where  more  skill  and  more  hands  are 
necessary  to  carry  on  the  work. 

The  great  Bonanza  Farms  of  the  Wot  have 
but  very  slightly  lessened  the  cost  of  flour  to 
the  retail  buyer,  when  we  take  into  account  the 
greatly  reduced  cost  of  production.  Flour  sold 
.  at  seven  dollars  a  barrel,  in  the  small  towns  in 
Dakota,  when  wheat  was  worth  seventy  cents  a 
bushel.  Nor  have  these  great  farms  contrib- 
uted to  a  rise  in  wages  or  perceptibly  increased 
the  demand  for  labor.  Laborers  in  the  Bonanza 
Farm  region  are  very  irregularly  employed  at  a 


AGRKTLTUEE.  13 

very  low  average  pay.  Xot  one  of  the  Bonanza 
Farms  lias  a  permanent  dwelling  and  the  full 
complement  of  men  are  necessary  for  only  two  or 
three  months  in  the  year,  and  even  during  this 
season  the  most  unskilled  labor  is  capable  of 
doing  the  work.  This  labor  may  be  obtained  in 
the  market  actually  cheaper  than  slave  labor:  be- 
cause the  employer  of  free  unskilled  labor  may 
employ  and  discharge  men  at  will,  and  may  en- 
gage labor  for  only  the,  busy  season,  whereas,  the 
slave  owner  is  obliged  to  maintain  his  slaves  dur- 
ing the  entire  year. 

( 'heap  labor  brings  degradation  and  decline  to 
the  nation,  whiUt  a  high  rate  of  wages  leads  on 
pro-pei  ity  in  its  train.*  The  nations  are  so 
closely  bound  together  in  their  commercial  rela- 
tions lhat  the  prosperity  or  depression  of  one 
contributes  to  the  prosperity  or  works  the  ruin  of 
many  others;  and  the  "pauper  labor"  of  Europe 
is  finding  its  counterpart  in  the  pauperized  labor 
of  the  United  States. 

In  plowing,  one  man  with  improved  machines 
can  do  the  work  that  was  formerly  done  by  more 

*Adam  Smith. 


14  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

than  a  score  of  men.  Until  recently  grain  was 
sown  Ity  hand.  A  niiin  would  carry  a  pcmeh  or 
sack  suspended  from  his  shoulder,  and  with 
measured  tread  would  walk  through  the  field 
sowing  his  seed;  now  a  boy  seated  upon  the  latest 
improved  sower  will  do  ten  times  the  amount  of 
work  with  ease.  In  corn  planting  the  cultivator 
displaces  twenty  men,  and  in  gathering  the 
ripened  ear  machines  do  the  work  of  hall  a 
score;  whilst  in  shelling  corn,  one  man  can  now 
do  the  work  of  one  hundred  or  more  working  in 
the  old  way. 

Reapers  came  into  use  early  in  the  present 
century;  but  it  was  only  within  the  past  decade 
that  they  attained  their  fullest  development,  and 
now  one  man  with  the  latest  style  of  reaper  can 
do  the  same  amount  of  work  that  was  formerly 
done  by  three  hundred  men  with  sickles  . 

Threshing  the  sheaves  of  ripened  grain  on  the 
barn  floor  with  flails  gave  healthful  employment 
to  many  men  throughout  the  winter  season ;  n<  > w 
the  dusty,  noisy,  man  devouring  steam  thresher 
does  the  same  amount  of  work  in  two  or  three 
days. 


AGRICULTURE.  15 

There  are  labor-saving  machines  for  gathering 
and  for  shelling  the  corn,  which  displace  from 
ten  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  men. 

AY  lien  the  grain  is  brought  to  the  mill  to  be 
ground  into  flour  the  labor-saving  principle  still 
prevails.  Mills  can  now,  with  the  assistance  of 
two  or  three  men,  turn  out  1,000  barrels  of  flour 
in  the  same  length  of  time  that  they  could  mill 
twenty  or  thirty  barrels  under  the  old  process. 

Feudalism  in  Europe  favored  large  landed 
estates  and  vassalage  of  the  peasantry.  The 
struggle  for  liberty  implied  also,  either  directly 
or  as  a  corollary,  peasant  proprietorship  in  land. 
The  advance  of  civilization  in  every  country  was 
attended  by  increased  numbers  of  individual 
owners  of  land,  and  the  great  majority  of  culti- 
vated soil  in  every  civilized  country  is  held  by 
small  proprietors.  Individual  liberty  would 
naturally  assert  itself  in  the  right  to  independent 
ownership.  Small  holdings  of  land  seem  pecu- 
liarly adapted  to  prosperity.  There  is  then  no 
necessity  for  labor-saving  machinery  on  the  farm 
to  supplant  the  toiler;  easily  attained  ownership 
through  small  holdings  offers  a  larger  field  for 


16  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

employment,  and  a  higher  state  of  cultivation 
creates  a  greater  demand  fur  the  various  form-  of 
manufacture. 

Napoleon  rendered  facile  the  transfer  of  titles 
to  land;  then  lie  divided  the  vast  estates  into 
small  holdings,  and  in  this  way  lie  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  prosperity  in  France.  Statistics  prove 
that  the  most  prosperous  provinces  in  France  are 
those  in  which  there  are  the  greatest  number  of 
small  proprietors.  "Work  is  plentiful  and  wages 
are  high,  results  which  invariably  follow  from 
increased  demands,  and  a  great  stimulus  is  given 
to  every  line  of  industry  by  the  healthful  tone  of 
the  primary  calling.  Farming  on  an  extensive 
scale  would  necessarily  involve  not  only  large 
outlay,  but  also  great  indebtedness;  yet  all  the.se 
are  supposed  to  be  offset  by  vastly  increased  re- 
sources and  returns.  Investigation,  however, 
proves  that  the  large  farms  are  not  only  heavily 
encumbered,  but  in  almost  all  countries  that  they 
have  inore  than  their  proportionate  share  of  in- 
debtedness . 

Farming  in  the  United  States,  under  present 
conditions,  is  a  very  unprofitable  occupation. 


AGRICULTURE.  j_f 

The  only  farm  that  pays  is  the  Bonanza  Grain 
Farm,  or  the  cattle  ranch.  Men  of  means,  from 
present  indications,  will,  in  the  future,  invest  in 
one  of  these  i\vo  methods  as  the  only  profitable 
forms  of  farming.  As  in  all  other  branches  of 
industry,  there  is  in  farming  a  tendency  towards 
centralization  of  production. 

"That  the  only  possible  future  for  agriculture, 
prosecuted  for  the  sake  of  producing  the  great 
staples  of  food,  is  to  be  found  in  large  farms, 
worked  with  ample  capital,  especially  in  the  form 
of  machinery,  and  with  labor  organized  some- 
what after  the  factory  system,  is  coming  to  be 
the  opinion  of  many  of  the  best  authorities,  both 
in  the  United  States  and  Europe."* 

With  the  growth  and  extension  of  these  ma- 
chine-worked and  factory-formed  farms,  agricul- 
ture as  an  occupation  for  the  small  farmer  will 
cease  to  offer  profitable  employment,  except  in 
the  form  of  small  truck  or  poultry  farms  near 
the  large  markets. 

The  highest  good  of  the  greatest  number  was 
formerly  supposed  to  constitute  the  fundamental 

*"R«cent  Economic  Changes."     (D.  A.  Wells). 


-18  I'D  PULAR  PROGRESS. 

principle  of  national  prosperity,  hut  the  fin  de 
.siecle  trend  is  towards  the  highest  good  of  the 
smallest  number;  and  this  tendency  is  indirectly 
advocated  by  political  economists  of  high  stand- 
ing as  the  progress  of  civilization.  Xo  nation 
ever  has  been  or  ever  will  bo  prosperous  and 
happy  unless  the  great  mass  of  people  obtain 
work  at  fair  wages.* 

Something-  is  wrong  in  the  system  when  a 
farmer  in  the  United  States  cannot  make  a  living 
on  fifty  or  one  hundred  acres  of  land.  The  pro- 
ducts of  agriculture  here  are  enormous;  depres- 
sion could  never  be  traced  to  a  general  failure  of 
crops.  This  country  not  only  produces  enough 
to  feed  and  clothe  her  own  inhabitants,  but  ships 
are  continually  bearing  her  products  to  every 
country  in  the  world,  where  a  market  can  be 
found,  and  the  only  limit  to  her  exports  is  the 
absence  of  demand.  In  twenty-five  years,  from 
18fiO  to  1885,  the  exports  of  agricultural  pro- 
ducts from  the  United  States  have  more  than 

*"Cheap  labor  means  degradation  of  the  nation; 
dear  labor  means  prosperity."     Adam  Smith). 


AGRICULTURE.  }9 

doubled  in  value.*  About  100,000,000  bushels 
of  wheat  are  annually  shipped  from  the  I'nited 
States  to  Europe,  and  much  more  could  be  sent 
if  there  were  a  greater  demand;  but  our  wheat, 
there  meets  a  sharp  competition  in  the  product 
of  India,  which  finds  an  easy  approach  to  Eu- 
rope through  the  Sue/  Canal.  United  States 
consuls  and  exporters  of  grain  hope  to  find  a  new 
market  for  our  wheat  in  the  ports  of  China  and 
Japan. 

A  short  time  ago  there  was  an  almost  uni- 
versal cry  for  the  protection  of  American  labor 
against  the  pauper  labor  of  Europe;  yet  here  are 
our  noble  American  farmers  competing  in  the 
markets  of  the  world  with  the  Coolie  labor  of 
.India  and  China,  the  cheapest  and  most  debased 
on  the  globe. 

A  little    reflection    upon    the  facts  here  pre- 

*From  258,000,000  in  1860  to  530,000,000  in  1885. 
In  May,  1897,  Russell  Sage,  who  is  president  of  the 
Iowa  Central  R.  R.,  received  a  letter  from  one  of 
the  Railroad  Commissioners  of  Iowa,  asking  him 
to  make  a  cheap  rate  on  corn,  so  that  farmers 
could  ship  it  out  of  the  state.  It  was  rotting,  but 
present  prices  would  not  pay  farmers  to  haul  it. 
In  fifteen  years  the  production  of  corn  had  ex- 
panded from  5,000,000  to  300,000,000  bushels. — New 
York  Herald,  May  16,  1897. 


20  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

seated  will  convince  any  unprejudiced  mind 
that  the  introduction  of  labor-saving  machinery 
in  the  work  of  the  farm,  lias  brought  about  this 
condition  of  things,  has  made  farm  life  in 
America  unprofitable,  and  lias  reduced  the  noble 
and  independent  American  farmer  to  a  condi- 
tion of  helpless  poverty,  where  even  vassalage  to 
a  mighty  lord  might  be  welcomed  as  a  boon  to 
his  hopeless  slate.  Labor  saving  machinery 
might  have  been  directed  towards  improving  the 
condition  of  the  farmer,  and  might  have  been 
made  to  bear  the  burdens  of  toil;  but  the  greed 
of  men  has  made  them  instruments  of  depres- 
sion and  a  curse  to  the  land. 

Tn  the  last  forty  years  the  products  of  agricul- 
ture have  increased  more  than  four-fold,  whilst 
the  population  lias  increased  only  about  three 
times.  In  twenty  years,  from  1870  to  1890,  the 
acreage  under  cultivation  in  the  United  States 
has  nearly  doubled,  but  the  value  of  the  pro- 
ducts of  the  farm  has  scarcely  changed.  In 
1870  these  were  valued  at  $2,447,000,000, 
whilst  in  18!)0  they  had  only  increased  to 
$2,460,000,000. 


AGRICULTURE.  21 

In  1840,  when  the  population  of  the  United 
States  was  17,069,453,  over  3,700,000  people 
were  employed  in  agricultural  pursuits  out  of  a 
total  of  4,796,407  employed;  and  their  comfort- 
able homes,  their  well  kept  farms,  the  well 
groomed  stock,  the  independent  air  of  the 
fanner,  were  proofs  positive  that  farming  was  a 
profitable  calling. 

There  was  a  ready  market  for  their  produce, 
and  a  good  price  for  their  goods.  In  1890  out 
of  a  total  population  of  over  62,000,000,  about 
8,300,000  were  engaged  in  the  same  industry. 
The  ratio  of  increase  of  agricultural  products  for 
many  years  had  far  exceeded  the  increase  of  pop- 
ulation; yet  the  ratio  of  those  employed  in  this 
pursuit  to  the  total  employed  had  greatly  de- 
creased. The  markets  are  overstocked;  prices 
fall;  weeds  grow  in  the  fields  where  wheat  should 
bloom;  homes  are  abandoned;  decay  and  neglect 
mark  the  desolation  wrought  in  agriculture  by 
the  introduction  of  the  new  economy  of  labor- 
paving  machines,  which  displace  the  farmer  and 
the  farm  hand,  and  force  them  into  other  in- 
dustries, if  they  can  find  work,  or  into  the  ranks 


22  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

of  the  great  and  ever  increasing  army  of  the 
Unemployed  in  the  cities  and  towns,  into  degra- 
dation and  want. 

Over  100,000  were  displaced  in  twenty  year-, 
from  ls<51  to  1881,  in  England  by  the  in  trod  uc- 
ti<in  of  labor-saving  agricultural  machines. 
These  were  forced  from  the  fields  to  the  cities 
and  towns,  into  the  prisons  or  poor  houses. 

(lolden  harvests  may  still  fill  the  land  with 
plenty,  but  they  are  no  longer  a  symbol  of  the 
rich  reward  for  invested  capital  and  expended 
labor. 

The  amount  of  wheat  raised  in  the  State  of 
Xew  York  had  not  perceptibly  changed  in 
twenty-five  years,  from  1867  to  1802;  but  the 
vast  difference  in  value  shows  very  forcibly  the 
immense  loss  of  profit  in  the  farming  industry. 
In  1867  the  wheat  crop  of  New  York  State  was 
.V_'r.0,00()  bushels;  and  in  1892  the  crop  had  in- 
creased by  150,000  bushels,  making  a  total  of 
8,405,000  bushels.  The  value  of  this  wheat 
crop  in  1867  was  $21,780,000;  but  in  1892, 
twenty-five  years  later,  when  the  crop  had  in- 
creased by  150,000  bushels,  the  value  had  de- 


AGRICULTURE.  23 

creased  to  less  than  one-third  of  1867  value,  be- 
ing only  $7,144,385.* 

There  is  a  disposition  to  lay  the  blame  for 
over-production  of  agricultural,  as  well  as  manu- 
facturing products  and  consequent  industrial  de- 
pression, upon  immigration;  for  in  this  manner 
the  market  is  over  supplied  with  cheap  labor, 
wages  are  lowered,  competition  for  employment 
increased,  the  consuming  power  is  crippled  and 
"hard  times"  follow. 

This  is  a  very  plausible  but  false  reasoning. 
From  1880  to  1890  "the  South"**  enjoyed  a  de- 
cade of  prosperity  (judged  from  the  amount  of 
her  products)  unexcelled  in  the  history  of  na- 
tions. There  was  no  foreign  cheap  labor  to  com- 
pete with  the  native  element  in  the  home  mar- 
ket; and  the  enormous  increase  in  manufactur- 
ing, mining  and  agricultural  products  should 
have  created  an  extraordinary  demand  for  labor 
of  all  kinds,  and  should  have  vastly  increased 
the  rate  of  wages. 

*B«reau  of  Statistics  of  Labor,  1892. 
**Texas  is  not   included   in   the    Southern    states, 
because  it  has  peculiar  characteristics. 


24  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

In  Isfto  only  two  per  cent,  of  the  total  popu- 
lation of  fourteen  Soiitliern  states  was  foreign 
liorn;  and  the  rate  of  increase  of  population  for 
the  decade  was  only  IT.-'!  per  cent.,  the  lowest, 
with  one  exception,  on  record.  During  this 
period  the  two  Southern  states,  whose  popula- 
tion increased  at  the  highest  rate,  are  also  the 
two  states  in  which  manufacturing  industry  is 
least  developed;  and  the  three  largest  manufac- 
turing states  of  "the  South"  show  the  lowest  rate 
of  increase  of  population. ;:~ 

The  average  rate  of  wages  paid  in  these  four- 
teen Southern  states,  in  '180(5,  was  $1S.1S  per 
month:  in  iss^  the  rate  had  gone  down  to 
$15.78;  and  in  the  following  decade  it  undu- 
lated slightly  each  year  until  it  settled  at  $15.91) 
in  1S92. 

There  was  no  influx  of  foreign  cheap  labor 
during  this  period  to  crowd  out  the  skilled  high- 
priced  native;  yet  wages  decreased  whilst  pro- 
ducts in  all  branches  of  industry  attained  an 
abnormal  growth.  The  value  of  the  total  pro- 
ducts of  the  textile  industries  in  the  United 

*Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor,  New  York,  1892. 


AGKICULTUEE.  25 

States  in  1880  was  $500,376,068,  and  in  1890 
this  arose  to  $693,048,702,  an  increase  of  about 
thirty-seven  per  cent.  The  value  of  all  the  pro- 
ducts of  the  manufacturing  industries  in  the 
United  States  in  1880  was  computed  at  $5,849,- 
191,458;  and  in  1890  this  had  increased  to 
$9,056,765,996,  an  increase  of  over  sixty-nine 
per  cent.  During  this  same  decade  the  value  of 
products  of  manufacture  in  the  fourteen  South- 
ern States  had  arisen  from  about  $500,000,000 
to  over  $1,000,000,000;*  had  increased  over 
100  per  cent.,  whilst  the  population  had  in- 
creased but  a  little  over  seventeen  per  cent. 

Judging  from  the  enormous  increase  in  the 
manufacturing  industries  in  the  south  during 
this  decade,  we  might  imagine  that  people  had 
abandoned  the  farms  for  the  factories;  yet  we 
find  that  in  the  same  period  agricultural  pro- 
ducts had  increased  in  volume  and  diversity  at  a 
similar  prodigious  rate.  Agricultural  products 
were  diversified,  and  new  lines  were  added  which 
offered  prompt  returns  for  facile  effort.  Fac- 
tories for  making  butter  and  cheese  were  started 

•Eleventh    Census. 


26  POPULAE  PROGRESS. 

all  over  the  South  during  this  decade,  and  prac- 
tically opened  a  new  and  extensive  field  of  in- 
dustry through  the  entire  region.  The  amount 
of  milk  sent  to  butter  and  cheese  factories  had 
increased  in  this  decade  from  five  to  over  100 
times  in  quantity.  In  Louisiana  the  quantity 
increased  from  one-quarter  million  gallons  to 
twelve  million  gallons;  and  in  Alabama  the 
amount  increased  from  one-quarter  to  fifty-five 
million  gallons;  and  in  the  other  states  the  ratio 
of  increase  varied  between  the  above  amounts. 

The  quantities  of  poultry  and  eggs  placed  on 
the  market  during  this  decade  had  also  increased 
in  all  the  Southern  states  at  a  very  remarkable 
rate,  being  slightly  above  the  ratio  of  increase  for 
the  United  States.  The  output  of  sugar  and  mo- 
lasses in  the  South  had  more  than  doubled  in 
this  decade;  and  the  tonnage  of  hay  had  multi- 
plied itself  many  times. 

There  was  no  great  influx  of  foreign  popu- 
lation to  assist  in  this  enormously  increased  pro- 
duction; and  even  the  ratio  of  increase  of  the 
native  population  was  far  below  the  normal;  but 
into  every  class  of  productive  industry  had  been 


AGRICULTUKE.  27 

introduced  the  labor-saving  machines,  which 
render  men,  except  as  consumers,  useless  arti- 
cles in  the  world. 

The  South  had  abundance  of  food  products 
raised  upon  her  own  soil  to  supply  her  people 
before  1880,  but  increased  facilities  of  trans- 
portation and  prospective  wealth  lured  her  into 
sending  her  products  to  the  markets  of  the 
world.  She  produced  far  more  than  she  could 
consume,  and  her  enormously  increased  produc- 
tion led  economic  theorists  to  look  upon  this 
period  as  one  of  most  wonderful  prosperity.  She 
did  not  add  to  the  comfort,  prosperity  or  happi- 
ness of  a  largely  increased  population  within  her 
borders;  but  she  added  to  the  wealth  of  a  few — 
and  this  is  progress,  according  to  the  standard  of 
fin  de  siecle  wisdom. 

Civilization  is  wealth,  according  to  nine- 
teenth century  philosophy;  and  men — the  pro- 
letariat— are  only  the  instruments  used  in  its 
production. 


CHAPTER  II. 

SHOEMAKING. 

With  their  broad  expanse  of  territory,  with 
their  millions  upon  millions  of  fertile  acres,  with 
their  rich  rolling  prairies;  with  the  pleasing 
climate  of  the  South  and  Southwest,  and  with 
the  eager  air  and  exhilerating  atmosphere  of  the 
Xorth,  the  United  States  must  return  agricul- 
ture as  the  chief  industry  of  the  people  for  many 
years  to  come.  Close  to  farming,  which  sup- 
plies food  for  the  millions,  come  in  rank  the 
great  trades  which  supply  covering,  comfort  and 
protection  for  the  body.  The  votaries  of  Cris- 
pin some  years  ago  could  be  counted  by  the 
millions,  and  according  to  the  census  of  1860, 
the  greatest  number  of  men  employed  in  any  one 
industry  after  agriculture,  were  those  engaged 
in  making  shoes. 

From  the  time  that  man  first  sought  covering 
for  his  feet  to  protect  them  from  rude  contact 
with  the  earth  to  the  present  day,  the  skill  and 
ingenuity  of  those  following  the  trade  of  Crispin 
have  been  employed  to  perfect  the  art.  The 


SSOEMAKING.  29 

first  forms  of  the  art  were  probably  mere  soles 
made  of  wood,  of  cloth,  of  hides  of  animals,  or 
of  metal,  which  were  fastened  to  the  feet  with 
thongs.     As  each  successive  generation  profited 
by  the  inventions  and  experience  of  their  fore- 
fathers, progress  was  made  through  the  sandal, 
the  rough  and  ungainly  forms  of  boots,  to  the 
comfortable  elegance  and  perfection  of  the  art 
attained  in  the  nineteenth    century.      The  old 
Roman    patrician    was    distinguished    in    rank 
from  the  plebeian  order  by  his  footwear  as  well 
as  by  his  toga,  and  every  century  since  has  wit- 
nessed some  effort  to  indicate  the  social  strata 
by  the  covering  of  the  feet.     The  Eoman  patri- 
cian not  only  had  fine  material  for  his  footgear, 
but  wore  it  higher  up  the  leg  than  did  the  ple- 
beian, and  some  of  the  former  even  wore  shoes 
or  sandals  with  soles  of  gold.     All  through  the 
centuries  the  proper  clothing  of  the  feet  has 
been  an  important  art,  and  vast  numbers  have 
been  employed  in  every  age  to  supply  mankind 
with  the  varying  styles. 

Before  1846,  when  the  Howe  sewing  machine 
was   patented,   most   of   the   boots   and   shoes 


30  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

brought  into  existence  throughout  the  world 
were  made  in  the  old  way,  by  men  who  had 
spent  years  of  apprenticeship  in  learning  the 
trade,  sitting  upon  benches  and  holding  the 
leather  upon  a  last.  This  art  is  not  entirely 
lost;  for  the  finest  boots  and  shoes  of  the  day  are 
still  made  in  this  manner,  but  the  vast  majority 
of  the  goods  are  made  in  the  modern  factory. 
In  the  old  way  one  man,  with  such  implements 
as  were  in  use,  could  make  a  pair  of  ordinary 
shoes  in  two  days;  and  with  repairing  and  mend- 
ing he  might  be  able  to  keep  one  hundred  peo- 
ple comfortably  clad  during  the  year.  This 
proportion  throughout  the  whole  country  would 
give  employment,  every  day  in  the  year,  to  700,- 
000  men  to  furnish  the  people  of  the  United 
States  with  the  customary  covering  for  the  feet. 
The  application  of  machinery  has  wrought 
a  most  wonderful  revolution  in  the  shoemaking 
industry.  Rude  attempts  were  made  in  Eng- 
land in  the  past  century  to  construct  a  machine 
which  would  supplant  manual  labor  in  sewing 
shoes.  There  was  no  appreciable  displacement 
of  labor,  however,  in  this  department  until  the 


SHOEMAKING.  31 

sewing  machine  was  fitted  for  this  grade  of 
work.  With  the  Goodyear  sewing  machine  one 
man  can  now  sew  as  many  shoes  in  a  day  as 
eight  men  could  in  the  old  way.*  Every  dis- 
tinguishable part  of  the  boot  or  shoe  has  a  sep- 
arate department  in  the  modern  factory,  ant  I 
especially  invented  machines  do  the  work  that 
was  formerly  done  by  hand.  There  are  ma- 
chines for  cutting,  and  machines  for  rounding 
soles;  there  are  machines  for  shaving  or  trim- 
ming heels,  machines  for  skiving  or  shaving  up- 
pers, an  adaptation  of  the  sewing  machine  for 
closing  the  uppers,  and  a  machine  for  sewing 
these  on  to  the  soles;  machines  for  attaching  the 
heels;  machines  for  pegging,  where  these  <ire 
used;  machines  for  finishing  the  soles.  There 
are  machines  for  every  conceivable  branch  of 
the  industry;  and  these  machines  require  very 
little  guidance  from  man  to  perfect  their  work, 
whilst  some  work  automatically,  merely  requir- 
ing a  fresh  supply  of  material  at  stated  intervals. 

In  the  work  of  sewing  shoes  one  man,  with 
modern  methods  and  improved  machinery,  can 

•Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  1886. 


32  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

now  turn  out  250  pairs  a  day,  doing  the  work 
that  would  require  the  labor  of  eight  men,  by 
the  old  method ,  to  accomplish  in  the  same  time. 
"With  the  McKay  machine  one  man  can  now 
handle  300  pairs  a  day,  whereas,  formerly  five 
pairs  would  constitute  a  day's  labor.  In  nailing 
on  heels  one  man,  with  modern  machinery,  can 
now  do  as  much  work  as  five  men  could  formerly 
do,  without  machinery,  in  the  old  way. 

Many  of  these  labor-saving  machines  do  not 
require  the  attention  or  guidance  of  skilled 
artisans,  or  even  the  developed  intelligence  or 
the  physical  power  of  men ;  but  women  and  even 
children  operate  these  voiceless  automatons  that 
deprive  the  American  mechanic  of  his  (God- 
given  and  constitutionally-  guaranteed)  heritage. 

In  1850,  according  to  the  census,  105,253 
persons  were  employed  in  the  manufacture  of 
boots  and  shoes.  The  factory  system  of  making 
shoes  was  even  at  that  early  date  in  operation, 
and  32,948  persons  of  the  above  number  were 
females  engaged  in  this  department  of  labor. 
The  value  of  the  product  in  this  branch  of  indus- 
try was  estimated  at  $53,967,408.  Ten  years 


SHOfiMAlQNG.  33 

later  the  number  of  operatives  had  only  in- 
creased to  127,427,  whilst  the  value  of  the  pro- 
ducts had  almost  doubled.  In  1890  the  num- 
ber of  employees  reported  in  this  line  of  indus- 
try was  139,333  in  the  factories,  and  35,448  en- 
gaged in  custom  work  and  repairing,  whilst  the 
value  of  the  product  of  the  factories  had  risen  to 
the  enormous  sum  of  $220,649,358.  Here  we 
see  the  enormously  increased  productive  power 
of  the  operative  with  the  aid  of  improved  labor- 
saving  machinery.  The  productive  power  of 
the  operative  had  increased  four-fold,  whilst  the 
number  employed  had  only  increased  by  about 
one-third. 

Not  only  are  shoes  enough  made  to  supply  the 
demand  of  the  millions  in  this  land,  but  manu- 
facturers are  seeking  foreign  markets  for  their 
goods;  and  already  a  large  trade  in  American 
made  shoes  has  been  built  up  in  England,  where 
the  superior  quality  of  these  goods  commands  a 
ready  sale.  In  some  of  the  British  provinces 
fully  one-half  of  the  shoes  used  are  made  in  the 
United  States. 

From  census  returns  it  would  seem  that  the 


34  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

employees  had  benefited  by  the  vastly  increased 
per  capita  production.  In  1860  the  average 
yearly  wages  of  the  employee  was  estimated  to 
be  $247,  for  the  different  grades  of  labor  and  the 
different  sexes.  In  1890  the  wages  had  risen  to 
$483  per  capita,  according  to  the  census  returns. 
This  would  seem  to  indicate  a  very  gratifying 
betterment  in  the  condition  of  the  shoe  factory 
employee,  and  a  disposition  of  the  employer  to 
share  some  of  the  immensely  increased  profits  of 
capital  with  labor.  Unfortunately  this  seeming 
increase  in  the  wages  of  employees  is  not  real. 
The  different  methods  employed  in  taking  the 
census  at  different  periods,  and  the  different  sys- 
tems used  in  the  classification  of  employees, 
make  these  figures  very  unreliable.  In  the  cen- 
sus of  1890,  under  the  head  of  employees  of  the 
shoe  factories  were  placed  all  the  office  help,  the 
superintendents  and  managers,  and  even  the 
officers  of  the  company,  with  the  possible  excep- 
tion of  the  president  and  directors.  Those  en- 
gaged in  custom  work,  and  repairing,  have  been 
able  to  earn  a  fair  compensation  for  their  skill 
and  labor.  The  36,000  occupied  in  this  branch 


SHOEMAKING.  35 

of  the  business  report  net  earnings  of  over  $16,- 
000,000;  and  when  we  reflect  that  many  of  these 
are  unskilled  cobblers,  it  is  evident  that  skilled 
workmen  in  the  higher  grades  of  custom  work 
still  command  good  wages. 

The  operatives  in  shoe  factories  are  not  so 
fortunately  situated  in  regard  to  wages  as  the 
figures  above  cited  would  seem  to  indicate;  for 
nearly  a  decade  has  elapsed  since  those  statistics 
were  gathered,  and  they  were  misleading,  as  we 
have  seen,  even  when  they  were  compiled. 

One  of  the  old  style  shoemakers  recently  told 
the  writer  that  twenty  years  ago  the  journeyman 
shoemaker  was  as  much  a  prince  as  the  plumber 
is  today.  Then  ten  or  twelve  dollars  was  not 
an  exorbitant  price  for  a  pair  of  shoes.  When 
a  man  wanted  his  shoes  heeled  and  tapped  he 
paid  two  dollars  and  a  half,  and  he  did  not  con- 
sider this  too  much.  Now,  the  manufacturers 
pay  on  an  average  twelve  or  fifteen  cents  for 
making  a  pair  of  shoes,  and  they  even  strive  to 
cut  down  this  paltry  sum. 


36  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

The  shoe  factory  is  a  comparatively  modern* 
institution ;  and  it  is  only  within  the  past  two  or 
three  years  that  labor-saving  machinery  has  been 
introduced  into  some  of  the  departments  of  this 
industry.  Buttonholes  were  made  by  hand  up 
to  three  years  ago;  and  then  the  ubiquitous  la- 
bor-saving machine  invaded  this  branch  of  shoe- 
making,  and  relegated  the  well-paid  workmen  to 
other  fields  of  labor.  Shoemaking,  like  all  the 
other  branches  of  industry  into  which  labor- 
saving  machinery  has  been  introduced,  has  suf- 
fered depression  from  the  enormous  output  of 
cheap  products.  The  profits  of  the  manufac- 
turers may  have  been  enormous  in  the  early 
years  of  the  factory  system  of  shoemaking;  but 
competition  and  the  increasing  cost  of  placing 
their  goods  on  the  market  have  forced  many  of 
them  from  the  field. 

As  in  every  other  branch  of  productive  in- 
dustry into  which  labor-saving  machinery  has 
been  introduced,  the  shoe  market  has  been 
glutted.  Manufacturers  are  seeking  foreign 

*Shoe  factories  came  into  existence  about  1866. 
(Carrol  D.  Wright). 


SHOEMAKING.  37 

markets  for  their  goods,  because  they  can  under- 
sell European  makers  on  account  of  their 
cheaper  methods  of  production.  Large  fortunes 
were  made  in  this  business  before  overproduc- 
tion gave  rise  to  sharp  competition,  and  competi- 
tion forced  manufacturers  to  reduce  prices  to 
obtain  a  market  for  their  goods. 

What  great  boon  has  been  conferred  upon  hu- 
manity by  the  modern  economical  system  of 
making  shoes  in  factories  with  the  aid  of  labor- 
saving  machinery?  The  producing  power  per 
capita  of  employees  has  been  increased  four-fold 
in  forty  years,*  and  a  great  quantity  of  goods 
has  been  put  upon  the  market  at  a  greatly  re- 
duced cost  of  production.  "Who  has  reaped  the 
benefit  of  this  so-called  progress;  are  factory- 
made  shoes  any  better  than  the  hand-made  cus- 
tom goods?  They  are  not  so  good;  and  no  one 
ever  made  such  claim  for  them.  Are  they 
cheaper?  They  probably  cost  less  to  the  buyer 
than  the  hand-made  shoe;  but  they  are  not  so 
well  made  as  the  latter;  are  not  so  neat;  will  not 

*In  1850  the  value  of  products  per  capita  of  em- 
ployees was  $417,  and  in  1890  it  was  $1,583.  (Census), 


38  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

wear  so  well;  and  in  the  end  are  fully  as  ex- 
pensive, considering  the  grade  of  goods,  as  the 
hand-made  article.  A  great  quantity  of  inferior 
goods  has  been  placed  upon  the  market,  which 
will  shrink  and  collapse  when  they  are  thor- 
oughly soaked  with  rain. 

Formerly  when  the  apprentice  learned  his 
trade  he  could,  in  a  short  time,  start  a  little  shop 
of  his  own,  for  much  capital  was  not  required  in 
this  business;  and  with  frugality  and  industry  he 
could  make  a  very  comfortable  living.  Variety 
of  labor  relieved  the  monotony  of  toil;  and  the 
jibe  and  jest  of  fellow  laborer  or  friend  made 
pleasant  the  hours  of  this  independent  life.  Now 
the  business  is  transferred  to  the  stuffy  shop, 
and  the  hum  of  the  machine  has  replaced  the 
cheery  voice  of  man.  Humdrum  sameness  has 
supplanted  skillful  and  diversified  work,  and  the 
operatives  become  like  machines — little  more 
useful  and  capable  than  those  run  by  steam. 

Humanity  in  general  has  derived  no  benefit 
from  the  change  from  an  old  style  of  small  in- 
dependent shops  and  hand-made  goods  to  the 
modern  factory  where  machine-made  shoes  are 


SHOEMAKING.  39 

turned  out  by  the  thousands.  Those  engaged  in 
this  work  as  employees  have  not  been  benefited. 
Their  wages  are  less  than  they  would  be  under 
the  old  system;  their  work  is  not  so  pleasant. 
Employers  and  capitalists  must  reap  the  im- 
mense profit  there  should  be  in  the  industry. 

The  principal  effect  of  the  factory  system  of 
making  shoes  upon  those  engaged  in  this  indus- 
try as  workers,  has  been  to  lower  the  wages  of 
the  few  remaining;  to  substitute  children  and 
women  for  men;  and  to  cast  half  a  million  of 
men  out  of  a  profitable  calling  and  force  them  to 
join  their  disinherited  brothers  from  the  farm. 
And  this  is  fin  de  siecle  progress;  this  is  civiliza- 
tion! 

These  economic  methods  of  making  boots  and 
shoes  are  not  confined  to  the  United  States,  but, 
like  an  evil  contagion,  have  spread  through  parts 
of  Europe.  In  March,  1895,  ten  thousand  oper- 
atives in  shoe  factories  of  London  went  on  a 
strike  against  the  introduction  of  improved 
labor-saving  machinery  from  America.  At  Lei- 
cester some  30,000  more  operatives  joined  in  the 
protest  with  their  brothers  from  London.  All 


40  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

throughout  the  kingdom  men  went  on  strike; 
but  what  avail  ?  Thousands  of  men  were  forced 
out  of  other  employment  by  labor-saving  ma- 
chinery, and  were  ready  to  take  the  place  of  the 
strikers.  The  poor  idle  operatives  could  see  the 
bread  taken  from  their  mouths,  and  from  the 
mouths  of  their  wives  and  children,  and  could 
only  cry  out  in  feeble  protest. 

And  Yankee  ingenuity  continues  its  trium- 
phant career  of  pauperizing  the  world! 


CHAPTER  III. 

CLOTH  AND  CLOTHING. 

Closely  allied  to  the  shoemaking  industry  are 
the  cloth  and  clothing  making  trades. 

Prior  to  the  Revolution  all  the  cloth  manufac- 
tured in  the  United  States  was  made  by  hand. 
Every  well  regulated  farm  house  had  its  spin- 
ing  wheel  and  its  hand  loom,  and  here  the  wom- 
en of  the  house  spun  the  wool  and  wove  the 
cloth  that  made  comfortable  clothes  for  the  mem- 
bers of  the  household.  When  sheep  were  num- 
erous there  was  a  superfluity  of  wool  and  this 
could  be  sold  in  its  raw  shape,  or  made  into  cloth 
and  sold  in  the  village  stores,  or  bartered  in  the 
towns  for  luxuries  which  the  farm  could  not 
provide. 

England  enjoyed  for  many  years  a  monopoly 
in  the  cloth  market,  because  she  possessed  valu- 
able machinery  which  enabled  her  to  produce  at 
little  cost.  She  would  not  allow  any  of  this  ma- 
chinery to  be  exported,  so  that  she  might  main- 
tain her  supremacy  in  this  branch  of  trade.  En- 
gland did  not,  however,  long  precede  the  United 


42  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

States  in  the  use  of  machinery  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  cloth;  for  it  was  not  until  1760  that  a 
machine  was  invented  for  spinning  cotton,  and 
the  year  1785  witnessed  the  first  operation  of 
the  power  loom.  In  1786,  the  Massachusetts 
Legislature  offered  $1,000  to  the  inventor  of  a 
machine  for  carding  and  spinning  wool,  and  a 
short  time  after  an  expert  from  England,  who 
had  been  an  operative  in  his  native  land,  came 
to  the  United  States,  and,  with  the  aid  of  Yan- 
kee ingenuity,  machines  were  made  which  en- 
abled this  country  to  compete  with  Europe  in 
the  manufacture  of  cloth. 

Before  the  machines  for  carding  and  spinning 
were  extensively  used,  and  before  the  factory 
system  was  established,  these  branches  of  cloth 
making  were  carried  on  by  hand  in  the  towns 
and  gave  employment  to  a  large  number  of  men. 
So  necessary  was  the  cloth  making  industry  that 
every  family  in  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  was 
ordered  by  the  General  Court  to  spin  ninety 
pounds  a  year,  under  penalty  of  twelve  shillings 
for  each  pound  short.  Land  was  freely  given  to 
skilled  weavers  from  England  or  Germany  on 


CLOTS  AS®  CLOTiMG.  43 

condition  that  they  would  ply  their'  vocation  in 
the  interest  of  the  town.  Cotton  was  imported 
from  the  "West  India  Islands,  a:ftd  the  growth 
of  hemp  and  flaxseed  and  the  raising  of  sheep* 
was  urged  as  a  public  necessity. 

Women  very  rarely  worked  for  wages*  be- 
fore the  rise  of  the  factory  system.  The  young 
women,  whose  parents  lived  on  farms,  had  plenty 
of  work  to  keep  them  busy  at  home.  These 
were  the  days  before  the  advent  of  the  modern 
labor-saving,  pauper-making  sewing  machine, 
when  cloth  and  clothing  making  required  an  im- 
mense number  of  hands.  Girls  then  were  not 
looking  for  clerkships  at  starvation  wages,  nor 
were  they  invading  fields  sacred  to  the  male 
callings,  and  forcing  men  out  of  profitable  em- 
ployment, for  they  had  abundance  of  work  at 
home.  Girls  with  homes  could  not  be  allured 
into  domestic  service,  and  the  only  ones  who 
could  be  pressed  into  this  line  of  work  were  con- 

*The  statement,  sometimes  xound  in  works  on 
political  economy  and  industrial  questions,  of  the 
increased  per  cent,  of  the  employed  in  recent 
years,  is  very  misleading.  Those  engaged  in  home 
duties  were  not  classed  as  employed. 


44  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

victs,  or  what  were  called  "Redemptioners,"* 
principally  from  England.  Slaves  and  Indians 
were  occasionally  forced  into  service,  and  the 
house  was  fortunate  indeed  that  had  an  adequate 
supply  of  domestic  help. 

The  old  system  of  hand  manufacture  pro- 
moted the  prosperity  of  small  towns,  and  fa- 
vored their  establishment  and  growth  at  rela- 
tively close  intervals  through  the  settled  por- 
tions of  the  land.  This  gave  the  farmer  a  home 
market  for  his  surplus  wool,  and  the  clothing 
makers  found  a  convenient  trade  with  the  towns- 
people for  their  goods. 

In  the  olden  days  an  average  hand-loom 
weaver  could  turn  out  from  forty-two  to  forty- 
eight  yards  of  common  shirting  in  a  week.** 
With  the  power  looms  of  today  one  weaver 
could  produce  at  least  2,000  yards  a  week.  Since 
1813  there  has  been  a  continual  improvement  in 
machinery  for  the  manufacture  of  all  grades  of 
cloth.  The  principal,  and  in  many  cases  the 

*These     were    paupers   who    sold    their    services 
for  a  certain  period  in  payment  of  their  passage. 
**Commissioner  of  Labor  Report,  1886. 


CLOTH  AND  CLOTHING.  45 

only,  aim  in  these  improvements  has  been  to  in- 
crease the  amount  of  production  and  to  decrease 
the  cost ;  and  as  labor  is  one  of  the  greatest  items 
of  cost  in  production,  the  tendency  of  inventions 
has  been  to  substitute  machines  for  the  hands 
of  men. 

There  seems  to  be  no  limit  to  the  improve- 
ment of  machinery,  and  consequently  to  the  dis- 
placement of  labor.  In  weaving  cotton  goods 
of  a  fair  quality,  a  weaver  with  a  hand  loom 
could  formerly  weave  from  sixty  to  eighty  picks 
a  minute ;  a  power  loom  will  now  weave  near  two 
hundred  picks  a  minute  of  the  same  quality 
cloth.  It  is  not  alone  in  the  increased  produc- 
tive power  of  the  individual  machine  that  pro- 
gress has  been  made,  but  the  machines  have  bean 
so  constructed  that  they  require  less  attention 
from  the  operative,  and  instead  of  one  loom  re- 
quiring the  individual  care  of  the  weaver  the 
latter  may  now  run  from  four  to  ten  looms, 
according  to  the  quality  of  cloth  With  the 
single  spindle,  hand  wheel,  one  spinner  could 
spin  about  five  hanks  of  No.  32  twist  in  a  week. 
One  spinner  now  with  a  pair  of  self-acting  mules, 


4(J  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

of  over  two  thousand  spindles,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  two  boys,  can  produce  over  fifty-fiv* 
thousand  hanks  of  No.  32  twist  in  the  same  time. 
"It  is  quite  generally  agreed  that  there  has  been 
a  displacement,  taking  all  processes  of  cotton 
manufacture  into  consideration,  in  the  propor- 
tion of  three  to  one."* 

In  a  mill  in  Philadelphia,  in  July  1877,  a 
calculation  was  made  of  the  displacement  of  la- 
bor by  new  spinning  devices,  and  the  remarkable 
discovery  was  made  that  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
one  persons  could  spin  as  much  yarn,  with  the 
latest  labor-saving  machinery,  as  one  hundred 
thousand  women  could  spin  in  the  same  time,  in 
the  old  way.**  In  the  manufacture  of  woolen 
goods  there  was  a  displacement  of  ninety-eight 
per  cent,  in  ten  years,  from  1865  to  1875;*** 
and  every  decade  of  the  present  century  has  wit- 
nessed the  substitution  of  machines  for  men  in 
the  manufacture  of  cloth.  And  yet  the  cause 
of  "hard  times,"  of  the  industrial  depression,  i?. 

Commissioner  of  Labor  Report. 
**Moody.     The  Industrial  Problem. 
***Rcport  of  Massachusetts  State  Bureau. 


CLOTH  AND  CLOTHING.  47- 

an  inexplicable  mystery  to  our  wise  men!  At 
the  present  day  one  girl,  with  up-to-date  ma- 
chinery, can  make  three  hundred  yards  of  cloth 
in  a  day,  where  formerly  three  yards  would  con- 
stitute a  fair  day's  work. 

With  the  increase  of  population  there  should 
be  proportionate  increase  of  consumption  of  pro- 
ducts, and  there  must,  consequently,  be  an  in- 
crease of  supply  to  correspond  with  the  demand. 
From  1830  to  1860,  the  number  of  spindles  in 
the  cotton  mills  increased  from  1,246,703  to 
5,235,727;  and  the  number  of  looms  had  in- 
creased from  33,433  to  126,313  in  the  same 
period.*  The  capital  invested  in  this  branch  of 
manufacture  had  increased  from  $40,612,984  to 
$98,585,267,  in  the  same  period  of  thirty  years. 
The  spindles  and  the  looms  had  quadrupled, 
whilst  the  capital  employed  had  but  little  more 
than  doubled.  More  capital  is  necessary  to 
manufacture  with  labor-saving  machinery,  but 

*"Industrial      Evolution      in      United      States." 
(Wright.) 


48  POPULAK  PROGRESS. 

the  profit  is  proportionately  greater  because  the 
pay  roll  is  far  smaller.* 

The  population  of  the  United  States  had 
grown  in  the  same  thirty  years,  from  1830  to 
1860,  from  a  little  less  than  thirteen  millions  to 
about  thirty-one  millions.  The  population  had 
little  more  than  doubled  whilst  the  product  of 
cotton  and  wool  textile  products  had  increased 
from  about  thirty-one  millions,  in  1840,  to  up- 
wards of  one  hundred  and  eighty  millions  in 
1860;  the  products  had  increased  over  six-fold. 
From  1860  to  1890,  the  population  of  the 
United  States  just  about  doubled  in  numbers; 
but  the  textile  products  in  cotton  and  wool  had 
grown  in  the  same  period  from  $188,000,000 
to  over  $538,000,000;  they  had  increased  in 
value  three-fold  whilst  the  population  doubled, 
doubled. 

From  1850  to  1890,  employees  in  the  textile 
industries  had  increased  248.47  per  cent,  and  the 

*In  forty  years,  from  1850  to  1890,  the  ratio  of 
capital  employed  to  value  of  products  had  but 
slightly  changed.  In  1850  capital  was  $112,513,957, 
and  value  of  products,  $128,769,971;  in  1890  these 
were:  capital  $739,893,661,  and  value  of  products, 
$821,946,262.  (Eleventh  Census  of  United  States). 


CLOTH  AND  CLOTHING.  49 

value  of  products  had  increased  460.65  per  cent. 
in  the  same  period;  and  this  difference  in  the 
percentage  of  increase  of  employees  and  products 
represents  the  displacement  of  labor  by  ma- 
chinery. In  1850,  in  the  combined  textile  in- 
dustries in  the  United  States,  146,897  persons 
were  employed,  and  in  1890  this  number  had  in- 
creased to  571,897. 

The  amount  of  wages  paid  employees  at  the 
different  periods  is  not  so  easily  ascertained  on 
account  of  the  different  methods  employed  in 
gathering  statistics  for  the  census.  In  1850  the 
wages  were  not  reported.  In  1860  the  total 
wages  paid  was  $40,353,462,  an  average  of  $208 
per  employee.  In  1870  this  had  increased  to 
$315  per  employee.  In  1880  the  average  was 
$293  for  each  person.  In  1890  the  average 
wages  had  arisen  to  $349  for  each  person  em- 
ployed. At  first  sight  this  would  seem  to  indi- 
cate a  handsome  increase  in  wages,  and  would 
give  evidence  of  improvement  in  the  condition 
of  the  toiler;  but  figures  are  sometimes  mislead- 
ing. In  the  census  of  1890,  all  the  officers  and 
clerks  of  the  manufactories  were  classed  as  em- 


50  POPULAR  PEOGRESS. 

ployees,  and  their  high  salaries  helped  to  swell 
the  list  of  wages.  The  number  of  children  em- 
ployed, whose  wages  were  necessarily  small,  had 
greatly  decreased  on  account  of  factory  laws,  and 
this  added  greatly  to  the  average  wages.  Taking 
all  things  into  consideration,  the  wages  reported 
in  the  eleventh  census  for  employees  of  textile 
goods  do  not  show  any  advance  over  the  wages 
of  1870. 

Inventions  and  improvements  for  lowering 
the  cost  of  production  have  been  eagerly  sought 
and  more  generally  applied  since  the  statistics 
for  the  last  census  were  gathered.  It  is  a  curious 
fact,  well  known  to  those  familiar  with  patent? 
that  depressed  periods  often  result  in  the  stimu- 
lation of  invention.*  From  500  to  5,000  pat- 
ents are  issued  every  year  at  "Washington;  and 
many  of  these  are  designed  to  displace  labor,  and 
consequently,  to  lower  the  cost  of  production. 

The  present  producing  facilities  of  the  textile 
manufactories  in  the  United  States  are  so  great 
that,  no  doubt,  they  could  readily  supply  the 

•"Industrial  Evolution  in  the  United  States." 
(Carroll  D.  Wright.) 


CLOTH  AND  CLOTHING.  5^ 

market  by  working  one-half,  or  even  one-fourth 
time;  and  where  the  supply  so  far  exceeds  the 
demand  competition  for  the  market  must  be 
very  sharp,  forcing  the  manufacturer  into 
methods  of  economy  in  production.  There  are 
many  manufacturers,  no  doubt,  who  would  be 
delighted  to  pay  their  employees  better  wages 
under  more  favorable  conditions;  but  there  are 
very  few  in  the  textile  or  any  other  industry  for 
charity;  and  in  competition  with  others  in  the 
same  business,  they  must  adopt  the  latest  and 
best  methods  for  making  money.  One  manu- 
facturer cannot  afford  to  cling  to  the  old  hand- 
work system,  employing  very  large  numbers  of 
skilled  men  at  high  wages,  whilst  his  neighbor 
in  the  same  business  adopts  the  latest  style  of 
labor-saving  machinery,  which  may  be  run  by 
children  or  cheap  labor,  thus  reducing  the  ele- 
ment of  cost  to  a  minimum.  But,  if  all  manu- 
facturers were  obliged,  by  law,  to  eliminate  the 
labor-saving  machines  from  their  works  and  re- 
turn to  the  old  methods  of  hand  work  and  skilled 
labor,  the  system  would  place  all  on  equal  foot- 
ing, and  should  be  satisfactory  to  all.  It  would. 


52  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

cost  the  manufacturer  more  to  place  his  goods 
on  the  market;  but  these  would  command  a  bet- 
ter price ;  the  market  would  be  enlarged,  because 
this  system  would  increase  the  consuming 
powers  of  the  skilled  laborers  of  the  land  by  giv- 
ing them  more  work  and  better  wages. 

With  the  growth  of  the  textile  industry  one 
would  suppose  that  factories  would  follow  the 
increase  of  population,  and  that  works  would  be 
started  in  the  new  towns  and  cities  of  the  land. 
The  contrary  has  been  the  case;  the  tendency 
has  been  to  centralize  all  the  different  branches 
of  the  textile  industry,  and  a  few  towns  manu- 
facture nearly  the  entire  product.  Philadelphia 
is  the  centre  of  the  wool  manufacture;  Fall 
River,  Mass.,  is  the  centre  of  the  cotton  manu- 
facture; Patterson,  N.  J.,  makes  nearly  all  the 
silk  goods;  and  Cohoes,  N.  Y.,  has  a  monopoly 
of  the  hosiery  and  knit  goods.  It  is  somewhat 
remarkable  that,  in  forty  years,  the  number  of 
establishments  engaged  in  the  textile  manufac- 
ture, has  not  increased  over  twenty-five  per  cent., 
although  the  value  of  their  output  has  increased 
about  600  per  cent,  in  the  same  time.  Thes§ 


CLOTH  AND  CLOTHING:  £3 

mills,  no  doubt,  have  increased  in  size,  but  they 
have  also  most  wonderfully  increased  in  effi- 
ciency. 

The  European  countries  have  also  increased 
their  facilities  for  the  manufacture  of  textile 
goods;  but  they  are  more  conservative  over  there, 
and  they  are  not  likely  to  adopt  methods  that 
will  throw  vast  numbers  of  men  out  of  «?mploy- 
ment. 

Industrial  depressions  bear  heavily  on  all  the 
manufacturing  countries  of  Europe  as  well  as  in 
the  United  States;  but  these  periods  of  depres- 
sion, in  Europe,  do  not  seem  to  be  indigenous, 
but  more  of  an  infection  caught  from  commercial 
contact  with  the  United  States.  They  do  not 
experience  the  evil  so  soon;  and  they  recover 
quicker  from  the  attack  . 

Observant  travelers  in  Europe,  during  ihe 
present  depression  in  the  United  States,  claim 
that  "hard  times"  are  not  experienced  in  Ger- 
many or  France.*  Germany,  according  to 
seemingly  reliable  reports,  has  1,000,000  textile 

*Mr.  L.  E.  Holden,  proprietor  Cleveland  Plain- 
dealer;  Rev.  P.  Elminger. 


54  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

workers;  yet  they  work  overtime  to  supply  tn£ 
demand.  Their  wages  may  be  small,  but  they 
live  in  comparative  comfort,  and  enjoy  a  happy 
security  of  employment  for  the  morrow.  France 
continues  the  even  tenor  of  her  ways,  and  peace- 
ful prosperity  smiles  upon  her  sunny  land. 

England  is  also  comparatively  free  from  the 
long  continued  industrial  depression  that  has 
settled  upon  the  United  States:  for  although 
wages  there  may  be  somewhat  lower,  yet  work 
is  more  steady  and  the  cost  of  living  is  less.  In 
the  textile  industries  Americans  turn  out  about 
twice  the  amount  of  work  done  by  English  men, 
for  a  slight  increase  of  wages.  The  boss  is  well 
paid;  but  he  is  expected  to  "drive"  things,  and 
is  responsible  for  the  goods  and  the  amount  of 
work  done.  "The  men  under  these  bosses  are 
poorly  paid  in  all  the  Eastern  states.  There 
are  many  concerns  where  they  can  and  do  get  all 
the  help  they  want  at  eighty  cents  to  one  dollar 
a  day."* 

""Within  a  radius  of  forty-five  miles  from  the 

Royal  Exchange,  Manchester,  there  is  a  popu- 

*Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor.    New  York,  1892. 


CLOTH  AND  CLOTHING.  55 

lation  of  7,000,000  of  people,  all  directly  or  in- 
directly dependent  upon  manufacturing.  This 
district  enjoys  a  greater  measure  of  prosperity 
than  any  similar  community  in  America.  Those 
who  are  able  and  willing  to  work  need  not 
want."* 

The  United  States  has  only  about  one-hal£ 
million  people  engaged  in  the  textile  factories,, 
yet  the  country  is  flooded  with  their  goods,  and 
they  are  competing  with  European  countries  in 
their  home  markets.  In  1893  the  United  States 
sent  abroad  18,000  square  yards  of  American 
made  carpets;  and  the  succeeding  year,  1894, 
this  amount  had  increased  to  287,188  square 
yards.  During  the  month  of  September,  1895, 
over  16,000,000  square  yards  of  cotton  cloth  was 
exported  from  the  United  States,  to  be  sold  in 
European  markets. 

The  great  war  between  France  and  Germany, 
1870  and  1871,  entailed  immense  financial  losses 
upon  the  former  country.  The  expense  of  war, 
between  first-class  powers,  is  always  very  heavy; 
but  the  additional  burden  of  an  enormous  war 

•Ibid. 


56  POPULAfe  PROGRESS. 

indemnity  would  seem  to  be  sufficient  to  cripple 
the  financial  resources  of  any  land;  yet  strange 
to  relate,  France,  the  loser,  paid  the  five  milliards 
of  francs,  and  the  hum  of  industry  and  financial 
prosperity  continued  in  the  land  with  but  slight 
disturbance;  whilst  Germany,  the  victor,  though 
enriched  by  the  war,  experienced  the  greatest  in- 
dustrial disturbance  in  her  history.  The  man- 
ufacturing industries  of  France  were  in  a  nor- 
mal and  healthful  condition;  they  had  not  the 
capital  to  greatly  increase  their  products,  they 
merely  aimed  to  supply  the  demand.  Prior  to 
the  war  Germany  had  not  sought  foreign  mar- 
kets, but  success  in  war  made  her  one  of  the 
great  political  powers,  and  she  also  aspired  to  be- 
come one  of  the  great  industrial  nations  of  the 
world.  The  immense  war  indemnity  had  made 
money  abundant  and  cheap ;  speculation  ran  riot, 
the  industrial  field,  as  the  most  profitable  and 
most  conducive  to  the  nation's  glory,  was  in- 
vaded by  hordes  of  capitalists  and  investors;  all 
industries  were  overworked,  until  the  markets 
were  glutted  with  enormous  quantities  of  pro- 
ducts, and  excessive  overproduction  was  felt  in 


CLOTH  AND  CLOTHING.  57 

every  branch  of  manufacture.  German  indus- 
try then  almost  entirely  ceased  until  1879,  when 
there  was  a  slight  revival,  which,  however,  did 
not  last. 

These  cases  show  pretty  conclusively  that 
overproduction  lies  at  the  bottom  of  every  indus- 
trial depression.  There  may  be  some  financial 
disturbance  which  will  cause  a  flurry;  but  busi- 
ness will  soon  resume  its  normal  volume  when 
supply  and  demand  in  products  preserve  their 
proper  ratio.  The  great  financial  disturbances 
that  have  at  times  swept  over  the  world  like 
destructive  simoons,  have  been  assigned  as  the 
cause  of  industrial  depressions  but  they  have 
very  little  to  do  with  them.  The  law  of  supply 
and  demand  is  sovereign  and  absolute,  and 
where  these  are  normal  and  healthful — no  over- 
production or  under-consumption — the  financial 
disturbances  will  only  affect  the  speculative 
fields  which  soon  adjust  themselves  to  new  condi- 
tions, and  the  industrial  and  mercantile  worlds 
will  enjoy  uninterrupted  prosperity. 

The  cotton  mills  of  ISTew  England  are  at  pres- 
ent giving  to  the  world  pitiable  evidence  of  our 


58  POPULAR  PROGRESS, 

crazy  economic  methods  of  production.  Manu- 
facturers claim  that  they  cannot  find  markets 
for  their  products,  which  are  in  excess  of  con- 
sumption, and  they  must  cut  the  operatives' 
wages  so  they  can  afford  to  wait  longer  for  re- 
turns from  their  goods.  The  markets  are  flood- 
ed with  the  products  of  labor-saving  machinery; 
wages  are  near  the  starvation  rate,  yet  our  so- 
called  political  economists  call  this  mad  system 
progress,  civilization ! 

The  making  of  cloth  and  the  cutting,  fitting 
and  sewing  of  this  into  garments  were  formerly 
done  under  one  roof,  and  even  now  they  are  but 
different  branches  of  one  great  industry.  Twenty 
or  thirty  years  ago  the  sale  of  ready  made  cloth- 
ing was  an  infant  and  very  insignificant  indus- 
try; master  and  merchant  tailor  shops  were 
numerous  in  every  town;  great  numbers  of 
skilled  cutters  were  employed  at  good  wages; 
and  the  sewing  of  the  garments  by  hand  gave 
employment  to  great  numbers  of  women  and 
men.  The  better  class  of  garments  are  still 
made  to  order,  because  it  would  be  very  diffi- 
cult to  get  a  good  fit  from  the  ready  made  article. 


CLOTH  AND  CLOTHING.  59 

A  vast  business  in  clothing  making  has  sprung 
up  in  the  past  twenty  or  thirty  years;  and,  like 
the  factory  system  in  cloth  making,  this  industry 
has  been  centralized  and  confined  to  five  or  six 
cities.  Some  twenty  or  twenty-five  years  ago 
skilled  tailors,  including  operators,  pressers, 
basters,  and  button-hole  makers,  were  capable  of 
earning  good  wages,  and  could  live  in  comfort 
and  comparative  luxury;  but  now  they  are  the 
most  wretched  lot  of  human  slaves  to  be  found 
in  America.  Large  numbers  of  them  still  toil, 
in  the  large  cities,  in  "sweat  shops,"  where  they 
are  crowded  together  like  slaves  in  the  galley 
ship,  or  like  cattle  in  a  car,  with  poor  ventilation, 
and  in  these  foul  dens  they  labor  twelve  or  four- 
teen, or  even  sixteen  hours  a  day,  when  they 
can  get  work;  and  why?  So  that  they  may  live. 
They  are  fast  dying  in  order  to  live.  The  slaves 
of  the  South  could,  at  least,  breathe  God's  pure 
air,  and  they  could  gaze  on  God's  blue  sky ;  they 
could  hear  the  twittering  of  the  birds,  and  they 
could  behold  the  beauties  of  nature;  and  they 
could  lie  down  at  night  and  sleep  without  the 
horrid  spectre  of  starvation  to  haunt  their 


60  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

dreams.  The  poor  garment  worker  hears  only 
the  rapid  whirr  of  the  machines  during  the  day 
and  the  heavy  rumble  of  the  drays  at  night; 
wearied  with  toil  in  the  foul  workshop  he  retires 
to  his  restricted  quartes  in  a  squalid  tenement 
to  snatch  a  few  hours  of  rest  before  returning  to 
his  monotonous  toil.  He  may  see  the  green 
fields,  or  sniff  the  fresh  air  of  lake  or  sea,  oncfl 
or  twice  a  year,  when  necessity  calls,  otherwise 
there  is  no  alternative  but  work  or  starve. 

Thousands  of  men  and  women  and  girls 
would  leave  the  ranks  of  the  poor  slave  garment 
workers,  which  are  already  overcrowded,  if 
they  could  better  their  condition,  but  where  can 
they  find  employment  that  will  give  them  bread 
and  soup,  and  a  shelter?  All  other  occupations 
are  crowded  with  able  and  skillful  men,  and 
hundreds  of  thousands  are  idly  waiting  for  some 
employment  that  will  yield  the  means  of  a  re- 
spectable livelihood.  All  producing  trades  ar* 
overcrowded,  because  machines  are  displacing 
human  hands.  The  poor  tailors  and  garment 
workers  have  machines  also  to  help  them  in  their 
work.  What  a  great  blessing  these  labor-sav- 


CLOTH  AND  CLOTHING.  Q± 

ing  machines  have  been  to  the  toilers  in  thi° 
trade!  Do  they  help  the  poor  slaves  get  better 
wages  to  live  comfortably?  Xo,  they  were  not 
intended  for  that,  but  they  help  them  to  die 
easily  and  quickly.  The  foul  air  of  the  shop, 
the  extreme  heat  of  the  pressers'  work,  soon  fills 
their  lungs  with  disease.  The  poor  food  they 
can  afford,  the  scant  recreation,  fills  their 
stomachs  with  disorders,  and  hastens  their  march 
to  death.  Most  of  them  have  families  to  sup- 
port, and  they  must  do  this  or  die  at  once.  But 
what  are  men  anyway,  that  the  world  should  be 
mindful  of  them?  There  is  more  money  in  ma- 
chines in  this  enlightened  age! 

No  one  individual  and  no  particular  class  is  to 
blame  for  the  present  wretched  state  of  the  gar- 
ment workers.  There  has  been  no  deliberate 
attempt,  or  desire,  on  the  part  of  the  manufac- 
turers to  reduce  these  toilers  to  the  verge  of  star- 
vation. Their  present  deplorable  condition  is 
but  the  necessary  outcome  of  the  growth  of 
modern  industrial  methods. 

Twenty-five  of  thirty  years  ago  nearly  all  the 
work  in  clothing  making  was  done  by  hand. 


62  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

Even  those  houses  that  dealt  in  ready  made 
clothes  had  the  garments  made  in  their  own 
establishments,  or  close  at  hand  in  special  shops. 
There  was  not  much  difference  in  the  wages  paid 
to  those  who  made  garments  for  the  stores  and 
those  who  made  custom  work,  except  that  the 
latter  received  better  prices  for  higher  class 
goods  in  costly  suits. 

Clothes  did  not  then  cost  the  working  man 
much  more  than  they  do  now,  for  a  very  good 
suit  of  satinet,  which  cost  but  little  more  than  at 
the  present  time,  would  do  for  two  or  three  years 
as  a  Sunday  suit,  and  then  overalls  were  more 
generally  worn  on  work  days.  The  ordinary 
business  suits,  and  the  cheaper  grade  of  goods 
are  much  cheaper  today,  because  labor  is  very 
much  cheaper.  A  coat  is  now  made  in  the  New 
York  shops  for  sixty-two  and  one-half  cents 
which  would  formerly  cost  three  or  four  dollars. 
A  whole  suit  may  be  made  now  for  ninety-nine 
cents  which  formerly  would  bring  the  tailor 
seven  or  eight  dollars. 

The  sewing  machine,  one  of  the  greatest  of 
modern  economic  inventions,  has  been  intro- 


CLOTH  AND  CLOTHING.  53 

duced  into  this  industry  and  has  revolutionized 
the  business.  There  are,  at  least,  30,000  gar- 
ment makers  in  New  York  City,  and  these  will 
make,  at  a  very  low  estimate,  30,000,000  suits 
in  a  year.  There  may  be  20,000  more  engaged 
in  the  same  business  in  other  cities,  and  the^ 
annually  make  20,000,000  more  suits,  making 
50,000,000  in  all — sufficient  to  clothe  the  en- 
tire male  population  of  the  land.  There  are 
about  50,000  engaged  in  custom  tailor- 
ing in  the  United  States,  and  with  the  sew- 
ing machine  to  facilitate  work  in  this  branch  of 
the  industry  also,  it  is  evident  that  the  markets 
must  be  well  supplied  with  clothing. 

In  1860  there  were  91,670  men  and  women 
enployed  in  making  clothing,  and  their  wages 
amounted  to  $15,996,009,  about  $175  for  each 
person.  In  1890  this  number  had  increased  to 
about  140,000  employees,  and  the  average  wages 
was  about  $385  a  year  for  each  worker.  This 
would  seem  to  indicate  an  increase  of  more  than 
double  the  amoiint  of  wages,  but  the  same  ratio 
of  increase  in  the  number  of  employees  was  not 
verified.  Statistics,  however,  in  regard  to  wages 


64  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

in  this  industry  are  not  very  reliable.  The  task 
system  of  a  day's  work  prevails  in  a  great  ma- 
jority of  these  shops,  and  good  wages  may  be 
paid  for  a  nominal  day's  work,  but  the  number 
of  garments  the  operator  is  compelled  to  finish 
for  a  day's  wages  requires  two  and  even  two  and 
one-half  days  of  persistent  labor  to  accomplish. 
The  wages  then  may  be  two  dollars  a  day,  but 
the  toilers  are  only  able  to  put  in  two  and  two- 
fifth  days  a  week,  and  this  cuts  their  pay  down  to 
$4.80  a  week.  The  actual  wages  earned  by 
these  workers  in  May,  1897,  are:  Tailors  from 
$3  to  $5  a  week;  children's  jacket  makers  about 
$2  a  week;  trousers  makers  about  $3  a  week; 
knee  pants  makers  $5  a  week;  vest  makers  $4  a 
week.*  The  census  figures  seem  to  indicate  pros- 
perity and  advance  of  wages;  but,  unfortunately, 
they  are  unreliable  and  untrue. 

Twenty  years  ago  the  garment  makers  of  New 
York,  who  now  toil  long  hours  for  $4  and  $5  a 
week,  could  make  $25  a  week;  yet,  with  the  help 
of  the  blessed  machine  and  with  modern 

*New  York  World,  May  20,  1897. 


CLOTH  AND  CLOTHING.  55 

methods,  their  producing  power  is  now  fully  as 
much  as  it  was  then. 

The  census  of  1860  says  of  the  sewing  ma- 
chine: "The  application  of  its  use  in  the  last 
ten  years  has  been  revolutionary.  It  has  opened 
avenues  to  profitable  and  healthful  industry  for 
thousands  of  industrious  females  to  whom  the 
labor  of  the  needle  had  become  wholly  unre- 
munerative  and  injurious  in  their  effects.  Like 
all  automatic  powers  it  has  enhanced  the  com- 
forts of  every  class  by  cheapening  the  process  of 
manufacture  without  permanently  substracting 
from  the  average  means  of  support  of  any  por- 
tion of  the  community." 

In  the  light  of  later  developments  the  above 
extract  would  seem  to  have  been  intended  for 
humorous  irony  were  it  not  printed  in  such  a 
solemn  work  as  a  compilation  of  census  facts  and 
figures.  The  half  starved  forms,  and  the  sickly 
features  of  the  garment  makers  tell  more  strong- 
ly than  ironical  guess-work  how  profitable  and 
healthful  is  this  industry! 

It  seems  to  be  an  admitted  principle  in  politi- 
cal economy  that  cheapening  the  process  of  man- 


QQ  POPULAK  PROGRESS. 

ufacture  adds  to  the  sum  of  human  comforts  and 
consequent  human  happiness.  When  the  cheap- 
ening process  is  effected  by  lowering  the  rate  of 
wages,  or  by  displacing  hand  labor,  then  the 
product,  in  theory,  is  placed  within  the  reach  of 
the  greater  number;  but  in  practice  this  method 
reduces  the  consuming  power  of  the  laboring 
class,  which  is  the  most  numerous,  and  decreases 
their  means  of  enjoying  these  comforts.  If  this 
displacement  of  labor  or  lowering  the  rates  of 
wages,  in  the  cheapening  process  of  manufac- 
ture, took  place  in  one  industry  alone  cheap 
products  might  be  a  blessing;  but  when  all  in- 
dustries are  similarly  affected  the  cheap  com- 
forts are  placed  within  the  reach  of  the  few, 
whilst  the  general  effect  is  a  decrease  of  the  con- 
suming power  of  the  working  class  and  a  great 
addition  to  the  sum  of  human  misery. 

The  law  of  supply  and  demand  must  regu- 
late the  rate  of  wages.    The  introduction  of  the 
sewing  machine  has  lessened  the  demand  for  la- 
bor,  and  must,  inevitably,  lower  the  rate  of 
wages. 


CLOTH  AND  CLOTHING.  57 

The  wages  paid  to  the  garment  makers  have 
been  gradually  descending  the  scale  until  at  the 
present  time  they  have  reached  the  starvation 
mark.  Overproduction  and  greed  are  the  causes 
of  this  decline.  The  retail  clothier  in  his  de- 
sire for  trade  and  large  profit,  demands  a  cheaper 
garment  from  the  wholesaler,  so  that  he  may 
undersell  his  competitor  and  increase  his  sales. 
The  manufacturer  wishes  to  preserve  his  share 
of  the  profits,  and,  consequently,  he  pays  less  to 
the  contractor  for  having  the  garments  made. 
The  contractor  seeks  the  cheapest  labor  in  the 
market  so  that  he  may  have  the  largest  possible 
profit,  and  as  the  supply  of  this  kind  of  labor 
exceeds  the  demand  large  numbers  may  be  found 
ready  to  work  for  any  wages  that  will  keep  the 
wolf  from  their  door. 

To  save  rent  contractors  had  the  garments 
made  in  tenement  houses,  or  in  "sweat  shops," 
where  the  workers  were  huddled  together  like 
cattle.  Anxiety  to  sell  their  goods  made  smaller 
and  less  reputable  houses  resort  to  all  means  of 
cheap  production  so  they  could  undersell  their 
competitors;  and  the  garment  makers  had  in  all 


68  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

cases  to  suffer  when  the  selling  price  was  re- 
duced. Suits  now  retailing  at  $5  and  $6  former- 
ly sold  for  $10  and  $12,  though  the  material  is 
the  same.  The  difference  in  price  represents 
the  toiler's  loss. 

Small  manufacturers  in  New  York  could  make 
up  garments  cheaper  than  the  large  houses,  be- 
cause they  had  little  shops  in  a  poor  part  of  the 
city,  and  they  could  do  their  own  designing  and 
cutting;  or  they  turned  their  living  rooms  into 
shops,  thus  saving  the  expense  of  rent.  The 
larger  houses  are  obliged  to  sell  their  goods  in 
the  same  markets,  and  to  meet  the  cut  of  the 
small  dealers  they  pay  less  to  the  contractors, 
and  these  in  turn  reduce  the  wages  of  the  tailors. 
This  process  could  not  be  completed  if  the  pro- 
ducing power  did  not  far  exceed  the  consump- 
tion. But  what  can  the  poor  tailors  do  when 
every  other  trade  is  in  the  same  condition?  The 
duller  the  clothing  business  is  the  more  does  the 
"sweat  shop"  thrive,  for  then  the  dealers  strive 
to  stimulate  trade  by  lowering  the  cost  of  pro- 
duction. 

"We  can  scarcely  conceive  how  those  poor  crea- 


CLOTH  AND  CLOTHING.  gg 

tures  can  live  and  support  families  on  $4  or  $5  a 
week.  Some  of  them  do  not  live,  they  starve  to 
death.  Mrs.  Becker  of  Brooklyn  died  of  star- 
vation, March  20,  1896,  because  her  poor  tailor 
husband  could  not  earn  money  enough  to  buy 
nourishing  food  for  her  body.  He  made  $3.50 
when  he  worked  a  full  week,  and  yet  our  politi- 
cal economy  friend,  and  the  statistical  fiends  tell 
us  that  wages  are  higher  now  than  they  ever 
were  in  the  past,  and  the  cost  of  living  is  less  now 
than  it  has  been  for  generations.  Other  wise 
men  tell  us  that  drink  is  the  cause  of  poverty, 
and  the  wretched  condition  of  the  tailors.  But 
where  can  these  poor  beings  find  time  to  drink 
when  they  work  sixteen  or  eighteen  hours  a  day? 
Drink  costs  money;  and  how  can  these  poor 
slaves  spare  a  few  pennies  from  their  poverty 
wages  to  spend  in  luxury? 

The  "sweat  shop"  is  the  natural  outgrowth  of 
the  contract  system.  The  large  manufacturers 
agree  with  the  contractors*  upon  a  certain  price 
for  the  making  of  suits  and  garments  out  of 

*The  reduction  in  prices  paid  to  contractors 
amounts  to  fully  50  per  cent  in  recent  years. 


YO  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

cloth  already  cut,  and  these  contractors  hire  the 
cheapest  labor  they  can  find  in  the  market,  and 
strive  for  the  greatest  amount  of  production  at 
the  least  possible  cost.  Tailors  living  in  cheap, 
poorly  ventilated  tenements,  and  who  make 
work  shops  out  of  their  living  rooms,  or  who 
huddle  together  in  cheaply  rented  rooms,  can 
afford  to  work  for  less  than  those  who  labor  un- 
der more  favorable  conditions.  About  70  per 
cent,  of  the  garment  makers  of  New  York  are 
laboring  in  the  "sweat  shops,"  or  in  unhealthful 
living  rooms,  so  that  they  may  underbid  com- 
petitors for  the  work  at  wages  which  will  keep 
them  from  starving. 

Twenty  years  ago  most  of  the  work  in  the 
making  of  garments  was  done  by  hand,  and 
a  long  apprenticeship  was  necessary  before  one 
could  be  classed  as  a  skilled  worker.  Now 
nearly  all  the  work  is  done  by  machines,  except 
the  basting,  the  pressing  and  the  finishing.  At 
first  the  machine  was  used  for  sewing  the  sleeves 
of  the  coat,  and  its  use  was  gradually  extended 
until  at  present  it  is  used  for  all  the  sewing  done 


CLOTH   AND    CLOTHING.  fa 

in  the  making  of  the  coat  and  other  garments, 
with  the  exception  of  the  button  holes. 

There  is  now  a  machine  for  making  the  but- 
ton holes,  and  its  work  cannot  be  distinguished 
from  the  hand  work  of  the  tailor,  especially 
when  it  is  touched  up  by  a  skillful  finisher.  One 
machine  can  do  the  work  of  at  least  six  men,  and 
when  we  consider  that  there  are  about  100,000 
garment  workers  in  the  United  States,  of  whom, 
perhaps,  20,000  are  operators,  we  can  estimate 
what  an  enormous  displacement  of  labor  has 
taken  place  in  this  one  branch  of  industry.  The 
machine  for  making  button  holes  displaces  a 
greater  proportion  of  labor  than  does  the  ordin- 
ary sewing  machine,  and  150,000  is  a  conserva- 
tive estimate  of  the  number  of  toilers  in  this 
branch  of  industry  who  have  been  displaced  by 
the  introduction  of  labor-saving  machinery. 
Some  writers  on  industrial  questions  assert  that 
the  sewing  machine  has  displaced  no  one,  but 
has  been  a  great  labor-saving  blessing  to  hu- 
manity. Writers  of  this  school  claim  also  that 
if  any  workers  are  accidentally  displaced  by  ma- 
chines they  may  find  employment  in  the  new 


Y2  POPULAK  PROGKESS. 

industries  created  by  the  expansion  of  labor  in 
supplying  new  machinery  to  meet  the  changed 
conditions.  These  writers,  howeer,  seem  to 
overlook  the  primary  principle  of  economic  de- 
velopment, in  the  institution  of  machinery  for 
hand  work,  which  is  to  lower  the  cost  of  produc- 
tion. If  the  men  displaced  by  machinery,  in  the 
actual  work  of  producing,  could  find  employ- 
ment in  the  new  industry  created  by  the  de- 
mand for  the  machinery  which  has  displaced 
them,  their  wages  would  not  be  saved  to  the 
producers  but  must  be  still  added  to  the  cost  of 
production,  and  thus  the  introduction  of  labor- 
saving  machinery  would  defeat  its  own  purpose. 

In  1890  there  were  about  9,000  persons  en- 
gaged in  the  sewing  machine  making  industry; 
and  we  have  seen  that  these  9,000  represent  the 
number  that  could  find  employment  in  the  new 
industry  out  of  100,000  displaced  in  the 
garment  making  trades. 

It  would  be  very  difficult  to  gather  statistics 
which  would  show  the  displacement  of  labor 
which  has  taken  place  in  other  departments  of 
the  needle  industry  through  the  introduction  of 


CLOTH   AfW   CLOTHING.  73 

the  sewing  machine.  In  the  making  of  ladies' 
clothes,  in  the  making  of  household  and  decora- 
tive goods,  the  displacement  has  been  enormous. 
The  displacement  which  has  taken  place  in  these 
departments  far  exceeds  the  displacement  of 
labor  in  the  male  garment  making  trades;  and 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  women  and  girls,  who 
are  now  working  for  $3  or  $4  a  week  in  stores, 
or  who  are  crowding  men  out  of  their  own  field, 
or  who  are  idle,  could  find  profitable  and  appro- 
priate employment  at  needle  work,  if  the  labor- 
saving  machine  had  never  been  placed  upon  the 
market. 

There  are  thousands  of  girls  in  Greater  New 
York,*  young  and  intelligent,  willing  to  work, 
but  they  cannot  find  any  work  to  do.  Needle 
work  should  open  a  very  promising  field  to  the 
cunning  hand  and  the  quick  eye  of  youth,  and 
should  give  profitable  employment  to  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  females  who  are  profitably  fitted 
for  the  light,  quick  movements  of  needle-work. 

The  whirr  of  the  machines  are  heard  in  the 
shops  instead  of  the  light  cheery  voices  of  youth, 

•Fourteenth  Annual  Report  Labor  Bureau,  N.Y. 


74  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

and  bread  is  taken  from  the  mouths  of  thoif- 
sands  that  economic  inventions  may  be  applied 
to  the  producing  trades.  Love  for  mankind  has 
no  place  here;  this  is  business,  and  machines  are 
more  profitable  than  human  hands.  Gold  is 
God;  and  girls  may  starve  or  go  on  the  streets.* 

The  sewing  machine  might  be  a  blessing  to 
mankind  if  it  were  used  to  lessen  the  burden  of 
labor,  but  like  all  labor-saving  machines  it  is  em- 
ployed to  reduce  the  cost  of  production,  and 
consequently  to  crush  the  laborer  and  to  enrich 
the  capitalist.  Men  do  not  intend  directly  to 
injure  their  fellow  men;  but  sentiment  has  no 
place  in  business,  and  nothing  can  interefere 
with  money  making  except  the  strong  power  of 
prohibitive  law. 

We  have  already  seen  how  the  sewing  ma- 
chine has  been  adapted  to  the  boot  and  shoe  in- 
dustry, and  the  number  of  toilers  it  has  displaced 

*Many  of  the  young  girls  arrested  in  New  York 
as  street  walkers,  are  factory  girls  and  clerks  who 
cannot  make  a  living  at  their  work.  Many  young 
married  women  are  arrested  for  the  same  reason, 
because  their  husbands  are  obliged  to  work  for 
starvation  wages.  (Interview  with  Police  Captain 
Chapman  of  New  York.) 


CLOTH   AND   CLOTfilNG.  75 

iln  this  and  the  clothing  trades;  yet  there  are  ex- 
perts* who  assert  that  this  invention  has  not  dis- 
placed any  one.  It  would  seem  as  if  the  whole 
theory  of  economics  had  gone  wrong  when  such 
an  idiotic  conclusion  can  pass  for  scientific  lore. 
No  one  labor-saving  invention  has  been  so  gen- 
erally applied  or  has  displaced  so  many  women 
and  men  in  the  manufacturing  industries  as  the 
sewing  machine.  Instead  of  being  a  blessing  to 
humanity  it  has  been  a  curse,  and  instead  of 
relieving  the  worker  of  the  heavy  burden  of  toil 
it  has  only  added  to  his  misery;  has  lengthened 
his  hours  of  labor;  has  reduced  his  wages  until 
he  has  become  a  slave  that  he  may  live;  or  has 
turned  him  into  a  kind  of  associate  machine  that 
needs  food  and  repose  much  as  the  sewing  ma- 
chine requires  oil  and  repairs. 

The  cotton  mills  of  Maine  and  Massachusetts 
have  flooded  the  markets  with  the  enormous 
products  of  their  labor  saving  methods  of  manu- 
facture, and  the  owners  have  forced  the  opera- 
tives into  strikes  so  that  they  can  restrict  produc- 
tion until  the  markets  recuperate.  The  new 

Commissioner  of  Labor,  Carroll  D.  Wright. 


76  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

cotton  mills  of  the  South  have  also  entered  the 
field,  and  with  the  latest  labor-saving  devices, 
cheap  child  labor,  and  enjoying  local  economic 
advantages  over  their  older  rivals  in  New  En- 
gland, have  brought  a  stagnation  in  the  industry 
through  overproduction. 

The  New  England  manufacturers  resort  to  the 
old  expedient  of  cutting  wages  to  meet  the  su- 
perior advantages  of  the  mills  of  the  South. 
Wages  are  already  below  the  "living  wage,"  but 
what  can  the  poor  operatives  do,  but  strike  and 
starve.  Are  the  great  mass  of  toilers  to  gaze 
idly  on,  and  see  this  crazy  economic  principle 
ruin  the  land? 

The  manufacturers  are  urging  the  govern- 
ment to  aid  them  in  securing  foreign  markets  for 
their  goods,  by  new  steamship  lines,  by  sub- 
sidies, through  the  consular  agencies,  and  by 
greater  facilities  of  obtaining  patents  on  labor- 
saving  methods  of  manufacture,  whilst  they  are 
reducing  the  wages  of  their  employees.  What 
right  have  they  to  make  the  government  an  ac- 
complice in  their  unconscious  conspiracy  to  bring 
disaster  upon  the  land?  Does  the  government 


CLOTH   AND    CLOTHING.  77 

exist  merely  for  the  benefit  of  a  few  manufac- 
turers? Have  the  great  mass  of  toilers  no 
rights  ?  They  have ;  but  they  lack  concentrated 
intelligence  and  strength  to  enforce  them. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

CARPENTRY. 

The  ancient  and  honorable  trade  of  house- 
making  is  as  old  as  the  world.  No  sooner  were 
men  in  the  world  than  they  sought  a  sheltering 
place  to  protect  them  from  the  heat  and  the  cold, 
from  sunshine  and  from  storm.  The  first 
shelters  were  necessarily  rude  rough  strongholds, 
built  for  protection  more  than  for  comfort,  and 
beauty  of  design  and  grandeur  of  construction 
did  not  form  any  feature  of  the  buildings  until 
men  had  attained  ease  and  comparative  wealth. 

The  ready  made  materials  which  nature  sup- 
plied in  abundance,  formed  the  little  structure 
for  shelter,  and  an  embryo  home.  Men  may 
have  first  constructed  rude  huts,  like  the  wig- 
wams of  the  Algonquins,  but  with  the  advent  of 
civilization  and  the  spread  of  the  knowledge  of 
the  mechanic  arts  arose  the  great  lumber  busi- 
ness and  the  house  building  trades.  The  vast 
forests  in  every  part  of  the  world  offered  ma- 
terials that  only  needed  the  skill  of  man  to 
fashion  them  into  forms  of  beauty  and  graceful 


CAEPENTEEING.  79 

outline,  that  not  only  served  as  a  shelter  but  also 
as  an  attractive  ornament  to  the  dwelling  of  man. 

Felling  the  trees  in  the  vast  forests,  cutting 
them  into  logs,  bringing  them  to  the  mills,  where 
they  are  sawed  into  boards  of  a  suitable  length 
and  thickness  to  serve  the  carpenter's  use,  have 
always  formed  a  great  industry,  employing 
thousands  of  expert  and  skilled  men  in  the  dif- 
ferent branches  of  the  trade.  The  old  fashioned 
axe  in  the  hands  of  the  chopper  is  the  usual 
method  of  felling  trees  in  the  United  States.  The 
industrial  revolution,  however,  has  invaded  this 
field  as  it  has  every  other  and  steam  power  has 
been  applied  in  the  large  lumber  camps,  where 
the  conditions  are  favorable,  to  the  felling  of 
trees.  When  the  genius  of  man  shall  have  per- 
fected means  of  applying  electricity  and  com- 
pressed air  to  small  motor  engines,  who  can  say 
how  far  machine  power  will  supercede  the  hand 
work  of  man  ? 

As  the  sculptor  chisels  the  marble  into  most 
graceful  and  majestic  forms  of  beauty  so  does 
the  skilled  artist  in  wood  carve  it  into  most  intri- 
cate and  delicate  lines  of  tracery  or  into  massive 


80  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

forms  of  architectural  ornament.  All  the  grace- 
ful lines  and  forms  of  beauty  in  the  cornices, 
frieze,  capital  and  column  of  the  encircling 
models  of  the  Gothic,  Doric,  Tuscan,  Ionic, 
Corinthian,Moorish,orthe  more  modern  styles  of 
architecture,  are  the  handiwork  of  men,  with  the 
simple  tools  that  are  entirely  operated  by  hand. 
There  is  scarecely  any  limit  to  the  degree  of  skill 
that  can  be  attained  and  the  amount  of  work 
that  can  be  accomplished  in  shaping  wood  to  the 
different  purposes  of  architecture  to  office  or  do- 
mestic use,  and  as  cunning  as  the  hand  may 
become  in  the  use  of  tools  modern  labor-saving 
machinery  will  follow  close  in  its  wake,  turning 
out  shaopely  ornaments  with  astonishing  rapid- 
ity. 

Machines  are  made  to  supplant  the  sculptor's 
art,  and,  with  a  goood  hand-made  model  as  an  ex- 
amplar,  busts  or  medallions  of  noted  individuals 
may  be  turned  off  in  an  hour  that  would  require 
sixty  hours  of  labor  by  hand.  It  is  true  that  to 
satisfy  artistic  taste  the  finishing  touches  must 
be  done  by  hand  to  the  finer  grade  of  machine 
carving;  but  for  all  rough  work  which  will  only 


CABPENTEY.  gl 

be  viewed  at  a  distance,  such  as  ornaments  for 
ships  and  lofty  buildings,  the  machine  finish  is 
all  sufficient.  Works  that  do  not  follow  regular 
or  geometric  curves  in  their  outlines,  such  as  the 
gunstock,  may  be  carved  rapidly  and  thoroughly 
by  revolving  machinery. 

Machinery  has  been  introduced  into  the  man- 
ufacture of  all  the  ornamental  grades  of  house- 
hold furniture,  and  the  parts  of  a  chair,  a  desk, 
or  a  bedstead,  are  quickly  turned  into  pleasing 
forms  in  grace  and  outline  by  the  rapid  revolving 
machine.  Machine  work  is  apt  to  be  flimsy,  and 
much  of  the  machine-made  furniture  is  merely 
a  veneer  of  carving  whilst  the  solid  and  more 
costly  ornamentation  is  the  work  of  hand. 

We  can  undersell  European  makers  in  the 
cheaper  grades  of  furniture,  because  our  super- 
ior machinery  enables  us  to  manufacture  at  less 
cost.  In  most  European  countries  the  homes  of 
the  wealthier  class  are  adorned  with  fine  old 
massive  furniture,  carved  by  hand.  Germany 
especially  is  very  well  supplied  with  very  high 


82  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

class  art  furniture,  but  offers  a  good  market  for 
our  factory  products  of  the  cheaper  grades.* 

Twenty-five  or  thirty  years  ago  all  the  doors, 
sashes,  blinds  and  frames  used  in  the  construc- 
tion of  a  house  were  made  by  hand.  Then  the 
carpenter's  trade  was  an  honorable  avocation, 
which  required  not  only  skill  but  also  a  long 
course  of  apprenticeship  to  perfect  the  tyro  in 
all  the  mysteries  of  the  calling.  Now  the  plan- 
ing mills  turn  out  doors,  and  sashes,  and  blinds, 
and  frames  of  every  description  in  vast  quanti- 
ties, and  any  man  who  is  handy  with  the  ham- 
mer, the  saw  and  the  screw-driver,  may  pu"  them 
together. 

Before  planing  mills  invaded  the  field  of 
skilled  labor,  carpenters  could  find  profitable 
work  during  the  whole  year.  In  the  winter  sea- 
son they  could  plane,  and  hew,  and  cut  and 
carve  the  doors,  the  jambs,  the  sashes,  the  blinds 
and  all  the  ornamental  work  for  a  building  in 
their  comfortable  shops,  and  when  the  pleasant 
spring  season  came  again  they  were  prepared  for 

*E.  S.  W.  Taylor,  United  States  Consul  at  Bruns- 
wick. 


CARPENTKY.  33 

the  outdoor  work,  which  was  generally  abundant 
and  profitable.  Now  carpenters  are  idle  in  the 
winter  season,  except  occasionally  some  half 
starved  tradesmen  are  found,  shivering  in  the 
cold  at  some  job,  for  a  pittance  to  keep  the  wolf 
from  the  door.  All  the  preparatory  work  is 
done  by  the  planing  mills ;  and  one  skilled  hand, 
with  a  few  handy  laborers  can  do  all  the  joining 
and  fitting  of  the  parts  made  in  the  factory. 

And  this  is  progress,  this  is  machine  civiliza- 
tion I 

In  1850  the  census  returns  gave  184,671  as 
the  number  of  carpenters  in  the  United  States; 
in  1880  there  were  only  54,138  reported  as  en- 
gaged in  this  occupation,  whilst  in  the  census  of 
1890  the  number  140,021  was  returned  as  the 
total  following  this  calling.  The  population  of 
the  United  States  had  about  trebled  itself  in  the 
period  from  1850  to  1890;  building  operations 
and  carpenter  work,  in  repairing,  car  building 
and  many  other  forms  of  woodwork,  increased 
in  volume  fully  as  fast  as  the  population  in- 
creased in  numbers,  and  we  should  find  in  1890 
half  a  million  men  employed  in  the  carpenter's 


84  POPULAK  PROGRESS. 

trade.  Instead  of  the  half  million  of  skilled 
citizens  following  this  extensive  trade,  we  find 
but  a  little  more  than  one-eighth  of  a  million  of 
poor  paid,  half  starved  mechanics,  who  can  not 
find  work  through  six  months  of  the  year.  And 
this  is  the  new  civilization! 

There  are  men  who  imagine  that  this  displace- 
ment of  labor  by  machinery  is  a  benefit  to  the 
industrial  world,  that  it  is  a  sign  of  the  progress 
of  the  age.  Whom  does  it  benefit?  Not  the 
skilled  tradesman;  for  his  skill  no  longer  com- 
mands high  wages,  and  he  must  struggle  to  get 
employment  for  a  few  months  in  the  year.  Plan- 
ing mill  owners  and  builders  may  have  made  for- 
tunes out  of  the  changed  conditions,  in  the  early 
stages  of  the  machine  era,  but  competition  has 
cut  down  their  profits  in  recent  years  and  they 
are  now  in  a  worse  condition  than  they  were 
under  the  old  system  of  hand  work.  Planing 
mills,  that  do  the  preparatory  carpenter  work, 
have  sprung  up  in  every  place  where  there  was  a 
prospect  of  extensive  building  until  they  could 
no  longer  find  sale  for  their  products,  and  fail- 
ures followed. 


CAKPENTHY.  85 

There  is  no  prospect  of  a  return  to  old  and 
prosperous  methods.  Some  even  imagine  that 
prosperity  can  be  brought  back  by  still  further 
extending  the  present  insane  labor  displacing 
methods.  The  wood  working  machinery  manu- 
facturers have  organized  a  trust,  whose  purpose, 
they  declare,  is  to  decrease  the  cost  of  manufac- 
ture.* They  have  lessened  the  cost  of  produc- 
tion in  the  past  by  displacing  labor;  and  this 
seems  to  be  the  principal,  and  about  the  only 
idea  inventors  have  of  decreasing  the  cost  of 
manufacture.  These  geniuses  do  not  seem  to 
realize  that  they  are  laboring  in  a  vicious  circle, 
that  they  defeat  their  own  purpose.  Their  ob- 
ject is  to  increase  the  amount  of  production,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  lessen  the  cost;  but  they  di- 
rectly cripple  the  consuming  power  by  their 
methods,  and  production  without  consumption 
is  necessarily  a  loss  . 

Years  ago  upholstering  was  an  important 
trade,  which  gave  employment  to  thousands  of 
men  at  good  wages.  Taste  and  skill  were  neces- 
sary for  the  artisan,  and  the  wages  paid  were 
*New  York,  December  18,  1897. 


gg  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

about  the  highest  in  any  of  the  trades.  Labor- 
saving  inventions  invaded  this  industry,  broke' 
up  the  little  shops,  and  sent  adrift  thousands  of 
skilled  workmen  who  were  obliged  to'  seek  other 
occupations  or  join  the  great  army  of  the  unem- 
ployed.* 

*The  New  York  papers,  Feb.  8,  1898,  report  the 
case  of  Joseph  Schmeder  who  is  a  skilled  uphol- 
sterer, and  who  kept  an  establishment  in  New 
York  years  ago  that  employed  many  men.  Labor- 
saving  machines  forced  him  out  of  business.  He 
managed  to  get  along  for  a  time  with  a  few  jobs, 
because  he  was  a  skilled  workman,  but  he  kept  run- 
ning behind  until  he  finally  succumbed  to  starva- 
tion. 


CHAPTEE  V. 

PEISON  LABOR. 

The  State  Legislatures  have  adopted  various 
methods  of  utilizing  the  time  of  the  convicts 
committed  to  their  penal  institutions.  In  New 
York  State,  under  the  law  which  went  into 
effect  January  1,  1897,  convicts  are  employed 
under  State  management  in  the  manufacture  of 
goods  and  articles  which  may  be  sold  to  any 
other  institutions  of  the  State  or  to  any  division 
of  the  State,  that  is,  to  any  branch  of  town  or 
municipal  government.  Prison  labor  is  not  al- 
lowed to  compete  in  open  market  with  free  la- 
bor, but  it  has  an  exclusive  market  of  its  own; 
as  all  the  institutions  of  the  State  and  all  the 
branches  of  town  and  municipal  government 
are  obliged  to  buy  whatever  manufactured  arti- 
cles they  use  from  the  penal  institutions.* 

The  workmgmen  of  the  State  are  taxed  for 
the  support  of  these  penal  institutions,  and  it  is 
rank  injustice  to  them  to  be  excluded  from  a 

*This  is  the  construction  that  has  been  put  on 
this  law. 


gg  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

market  for  their  products  through  favor  to  an 
element  which  has  no  standing  in  law.  If  our 
penal  institutions  must  engage  in  manufactures, 
on  the  plea  of  keeping  the  inmates  occupied, 
there  is  no  reason  whatsoever  why  they  should  be 
allowed  to  employ  labor-saving  machinery.*  The 
advocates  of  labor-saving  machinery  claim  that 
their  use  is  a  symbol  of  civilization  and  progress, 
because  they  take  the  burden  of  toil  from  the 
hand  of  man  and  render  more  facile  and  rapid 
the  process  of  manufacture.  Convicts  are  con- 
demned to  hard  labor,  and  it  is  not  sympathy  tha* 
inspires  interested  parties  to  alleviate  their  lot. 
It  looks  very  much  as  if  the  desire  of  placing 
money,  the  earnings  of  convicts,  in  the  hands  of 
officials  were  the  inspiration  of  the  Legislature. 
There  is  an  ample  field  of  employment  for 
prison  labor  in  improving  the  highways  of  the 
State  without  coming  in  competition  with  any 
kind  of  free  labor.  Every  State  in  the  Union 
could  be  vastly  improved  by  better  roads.  The 
bicycle  has  been  so  generally  adopted  by  all 

**No  machinery  can  be  used  in  Massachusetts 
except  such  as  is  propelled  by  hana  or  foot  power. 
Stimson. 


PRISON   LABOR.  39 

classes  that  it  has  become  the  ordinary  means  of 
transportation  for  vast  numbers  of  people  in 
country  as  well  as  town.  The  country  roads  are 
not  in  any  state  in  such  condition  that  wheeling 
may  be  found  comfortable  or  even  practicable. 
The  State  makes  enormous  appropriations  for 
the  improvement  of  canals  and  waterways,  in  the 
interests  of  commerce;  it  fosters  the  railways  to 
facilitate  transportation  of  goods,  and  why  not 
improve  the  roadways  of  the  land  to  promote 
wheeling  for  business  or  for  pleasure  ? 

No  public  improvement  could  promote  the  in- 
terests of  any  state  in  a  greater  measure  than 
the  construction  of  good  roads,  and  no  outlay 
would  show  better  results  in  the  pleasure  of  bicy- 
clists and  the  profit  of  the  farmer.  The  automo- 
bile is  yet  in  its  infancy,  is  a  mere  pretty  toy, 
but  it  has  power,  endurance,  speed  and  cheap- 
ness, and  it  may  yet  be  put  to  practical  use  in  the 
transportation  of  goods  and  products.  Good 
roads  are  a  necessity  for  the  introduction  of  this 
latest  fin  de  siecle  wonder,  and  it  would  be  for 
the  interests  of  the  State  to  have  the  roads  in 
such  condition  that  this  invention  may  be  used 


90  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

with  pleasure  and  profit.  It  would  bring  the 
markets  to  the  farmer's  door,  and  with  the 
abolishment  by  law  of  the  bonanza  farms  of  the 
South  and  West — those  ravenous  monsters  that 
devour  the  food  markets  of  the  world — plenty 
and  prosperity  may  again  bring  joy  and  comfort 
to  the  farmer's  home. 

All  the  convicts  of  the  State  could  be  em- 
ployed to  advantage  in  the  construction  of 
roads,  under  the  supervision  of  competent  en- 
gineers; and  they  would  only  displace  the 
farmers  in  this  work  who  now  make  the  roads  im- 
passable at  certain  seasons  by  the  use  of  the  most 
convenient  but  improper  material. 

The  State  should  not  be  a  competitor  in  the 
market  with  free  labor,  nor  should  it  enter  a 
field  of  industry  which  is  amply  covered  by  pri- 
vate enterprise. 

Some  states  allow  their  convicts  to  be  leased 
to  contractors  for  work  outside  the  prison  walls.* 
Other  states  only  allow  their  convicts  to  be  em- 

*lndiana,  Michigan,  Nebraska,  West  Virginia, 
Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Arkansas,  Texas,  Nevada, 
South  Carolina,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Florida,  New 
Mexico,  Arizona,  "Handbook  to  the  Labor  Law  of 
United  States,"  Stimson. 


PRISON  LABOE.  9^ 

ployed  outside  the  prison  walls  on  works  under 
iec  drrect  control  of  the  state;*  others  only,  per- 
mit contract  work  within  prison  walls;**  whilst 
other  states  restrict  the  work  to  certain  goods 
not  manufactured  elsewhere  in  the  state.*** 

Criminals  should  everywhere  be  withdrawn 
from  the  competition  with  free  labor,  and  the 
State  should  leave  the  labor  market  free  to  its 
citizens.  If  our  legislators  wished  to  add  to  the 
criminal  population  of  the  State,  they  could  have 
taken  no  more  insidious  and  effective  measures 
to  accomplish  this  end  than  by  taking  away  from 
the  toilers  some  of  the  necessary  means  of  earn- 
ing a  livelihood.  There  is  not  work  enough  now 
in  the  State  for  all  its  citizen  toilers,  and  the  op- 
portunities of  employment  have  been  lessened 
by  the  introduction  of  the  convict  element.  They 
may  say  that  prison  labor  does  not  compete  with 
free  labor  in  the  open  market,  because  it  is  only 
the  case  is  even  worse  than  open  competition 
would  be,  because  the  products  of  free  labor  are 
allowed  to  supply  goods  to  State  institutions.  But 

*Ida.     Const.,  Ibid. 

**Minnesota,  Wisconsin,  Kansas,  Missouri,  Ibid. 
***Maine,     Colorado,  Ibid. 


92  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

absolutely  excluded  from  this  portion  of  the 
market,  and  prison  labor  has  a  practical  mono- 
poly. 

Some  say  this  system  of  prison  labor  is  favor- 
able to  the  taxpayers  of  the  State.  This  is  a 
fake,  pure  and  simple.  Prison  goods  are  not  sold 
to  state  or  municipal  institutions  at  a  lower 
price  than  these  institutions  would  have  to  pay 
for  the  same  goods  to  citizen  dealers.  The  Fire 
Commissioners  of  Buffalo  state  that  nine  dozen 
of  horse  brushes,  ordered  from  Auburn  prison, 
cost  them  $27  more  than  the  same  would  cost 
them  if  purchased  in  open  market.  One  com- 
missioner said:  "That  is  a  damnable  law  at  the 
best  and  a  gross  outrage.  It  could  be  termed 
robbery  without  overstepping  the  bounds  of 
reason."4'  Another  commisisoner  said:  "This 
law  leaves  us  helpless  to  protect  our  interests  and 
the  rights  of  the  taxpayers."** 

The  object  of  this  law  is  evidently  to  give 
political  rings  the  handling  of  State  money.  It 
is  another  step  in  the  enslavement  of  the  masses. 

*W.  S.  Grattan. 
**John   F.  Malone. 


PRISON   LABOR.  93 

The  great  body  of  free  toilers  of  the  State  are 
base  caitiffs  if  they  do  not  teach  these  political 
fakirs*  a  lesson  in  American  citizenship. 

No  power  driven  machinery  is  used  in  the 
manufacture  of  articles  of  commerce  in  the 
Western  Penitentiary  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
workingmen  should  see  that  the  same  wise  pro- 
vision should  prevail  in  every  penal  institution 
in  the  land.  It  seems  incomprehensible  that 
labor  leaders  should  recommend  the  recently  in- 
troduced New  York  State  system  as  a  model  to 
the  other  states.  This  system  has  not  even  the  ex- 
cuse of  economy  for  its  existence.  It  is  more 
injurious  to  labor  than  direct  competition,  be- 
cause it  practically  excludes  labor  from  a  large 
and  profitable  market.  There  are  many  ways 
of  employing  convicts  at  hard  labor  without  in- 
flicting an  injury  upon  the  upright  part  of  the 
community. 

Public  sentiment  might  not  approve  of  the 

old  fashioned  chain    gangs  of    convicts    being 

made  a  spectacle  on  the  highways,  but  surely 

there  is  inventive  genius  enough  in  this  age  to 

*Political  rings  defeated  the  anti-trust  laws. 


94  POPULAK  PEOGKESS. 

obviate  this  difficulty.  The  Governor  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  the  General  Superintendent  of 
Prisons  there  have  just  recommended  the  em- 
ployment of  convicts  of  their  state  in  the  con- 
struction of  a  canal.  An  enclosure  is  to  be  built 
around  the  place  of  employment,  to  screen  the 
convicts  from  public  gaze  and  to  prevent  escape. 
Such  an  enclosure  could  be  made  movable.  If 
this  scheme  works  well  in  the  construction  of  a 
canal,  it  should  be  adapted  to  the  building  of  a 
highway. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

INVENTIONS. 

The  nineteenth  century  has  been  the  most  re- 
markable in  the  history  of  the  world  for  the 
number  and  importance  of  practical  inventions, 
and  the  application  of  the  latent  powers  of  na- 
ture to  the  uses  of  man. 

In  looking  backward  now  over  the  past  one 
hundred  years  of  development  it  seems  scarcely 
credible  that  so  many  inventions,  absolutely 
necessary  to  progress  under  present  conditions, 
could  have  been  so  long  hidden  from  man,  and 
that  the  powers  of  nature,  which  have  existed 
from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  should  have 
lain  dormant  through  so  many  generations. 
"Why  should  the  spirit  of  man  be  proud!" 
There  are  yet  undoubtedly  undiscovered  and  un- 
developed powers  in  the  great  storehouse  of 
nature,  which  would  eclipse  the  remarkable  dis- 
coveries of  the  present  century. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  very 
little  was  known  of  the  nature  and  the  power 
of  steam,  of  the  possibility  of  its  use  as  a  sub- 


9G  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

stitute  for  horse  power  in  transportation,  or  for 
water  power  in  the  propulsion  of  machinery. 
Steam  was  first  used  for  propelling  vessels  in 
1802,  and  we  can  easily  understand  what  a  revo- 
lution this  has  wrought  in  the  maritime  com- 
merce of  the  world.  The  great  Atlantic  liners 
now  cross  the  ocean  in  six  or  seven  days,  carry- 
ing thousands  of  tons  of  freight,  and  a  moderate 
sized  village  on  their  passenger  list.  With  favor- 
ing winds  twenty-one  days  was  a  very  quick  pas- 
sage by  sail  from  Liverpool  to  New  York;  and, 
considering  the  facilities  for  loading  and  un- 
loading, a  modern  first-class  steamer  could  make 
three  or  four  trips  to  the  sturdy  old  lumbering 
sailing  vessel's  one.  Four  or  five  times  the 
number  of  sailing  vessels  would  be  required  to 
do  the  business  that  is  now  done  by  the  steam 
merchant  marine  of  the  world.  We  can  behold 
in  imagination  the  congested  condition  of  the 
East  River  and  the  North  Eiver  in  New  York 
with  four  or  five  times  the  present  number  of 
vessels  there,  seeking  dockage  to  load  and  un- 
load their  passengers  and  freight.  We  can 
imagine  what  an  immense  fleet  of  sailing  ves- 


INVENTIONS.  97 

sels  would  crowd  around  the  great  Liverpool 
docks  under  old  conditions  to  transact  the  busi- 
ness that  is  now  done  there  by  the  swift  ocean 
steamers.  Every  sea  and  lake  port  in  the  world 
would  require  three  or  four  times  the  present 
number  of  vessels  if  steamers  were  displaced  by 
sailing  craft  to  transact  their  present  amount  of 
business.  To  the  eyes  of  most  people  great  fleets 
of  vessels,  with  their  forests  of  masts,  are  indica- 
tions of  commercial  energy  and  prosperity,  and 
with  sailing  vessels  alone  to  traverse  the  seas  and 
lakes  new  life  would  be  infused  into  many  a 
dead  old  town.  The  world  would  not  be  willing 
to  return  to  the  former  slow  method.  The  old 
style  would  indeed  give  employment  to  many 
thousands  more,  but  considerations  of  humanity 
do  not  enter  into  the  calculations  of  progress  in 
this  age. 

To  save  time,  and  to  save  money  in  transpor- 
tation, as  wrel  las  in  production,  without  regard  to 
incidental  results  or  disastrous  effects  upon  the 
toilers,  has  been  the  tendency  of  economic  pro- 
gress, and  has  been  the  chief  aim  of  the  teaching 
of  modern  political  economy.  The  toilers,  as  a 


98  POPULAE  PROGEESS. 

whole,  have  reaped  no  benefits  from  improved 
methods,  notwithstanding  what  the  census 
sharps  may  say.  The  whole  advance  has  been 
made  in  the  line  of  economic  production  and 
transportation. 

Steam  power  has  been  utilized  in  agriculture, 
displacing  hand  labor  and  horse  power  to  a  very- 
large  extent.  The  steam  thresher  has  been  a 
familiar  sight  for  many  years  on  country  roads, 
and  in  a  few  days  it  does  the  work  that  would 
require  the  work  of  two  or  three  men  during  a 
whole  winter  to  complete.  Plowing,  too,  is  now 
done  by  steam  on  the  large  farms  of  the  South 
and  West.  The  greatest  labor-saving  mammoth 
of  all  devices  for  farm  work  has  been  put  in 
operation  in  California.  This  does  the  work  of 
the  mower,  the  reaper,  the  binder,  and  the 
thresher,  all  at  the  same  time,  and  also  puts  the 
grain  into  sacks  ready  for  the  market,  by  the 
same  operation.  It  is  operated  by  steam  and 
cuts  a  swath  line  fifty-two  feet  wide;  so  it  is  cap- 
able of  an  immense  amount  of  work. 

The  use  of  steam  as  a  motor  power  wrought  a 
revolution  in  the  transportation  business  of  the 


INVENTIONS.  99 

world.  Railroads  were  unknown  previous  to 
1804;  passengers  and  freight  were  carried  across 
country  in  the  heavy  wagons  drawn  by  horses  or 
oxen;  on  the  canals  in  boats  drawn  by  horses; 
and  on  large  bodies  of  water  by  the  slow  going 
sailing  craft.  It  would  require  three  or  four 
months  by  the  old  method  to  transport  grain 
from  the  wheat  fields  of  the  West  to  the  markets 
of  Europe,  and  about  one  hundred  per  cent, 
would  be  added  to  the  cost.  Two  weeks  now 
would  be  sufficient  time  for  transporting  grain 
that  distance,  and  the  cost  is  not  one-tenth  what 
it  would  be  under  the  old  system. 

The  steam  snow  plow  on  the  railways  has  dis- 
placed an  immense  amount  of  hand  labor.  Traffic 
on  the  railways,  after  a  heavy  fall  of  snow,  used 
to  be  a  very  serious  problem  before  the  invention 
of  the  steam  snow  plow;  snow  drifts  would  either 
stop  traffic  or  would  necessitate  the  employ- 
ment of  hundreds  of  hands;  now  the  combined 
power  of  several  engines  drives  the  great  plow 
through  heavy  drifts  of  snow  with  almost  irre- 
sistible force.  The  signal  and  the  block  system 
on  railways,  and  in  fact,  all  the  railroad  improve- 


100  POPULAR  PROGRESS, 

ments  are  inventions  of  the  present  century. 
Switches  are  manipulated  by  levers,  in  a  group, 
at  a  distance,  to  save  the  labor  of  men  at  the  dif- 
ferent tracks. 

In  the  manner  of  handling  grain,  in  the  load- 
ing and  unloading  of  cars  and  vessels,  a  most 
wonderful  improvement  has  been  made.  The 
handling  of  millions  of  bushels  of  grain,  in  the 
rail,  lake  and  sea  transportation  would  be  a 
serious  problem  under  the  old  system  and  would 
involve  the  employment  of  a  vast  army  of  men. 
The  great  elevators  run  a  long  leg  like  the 
snout  of  a  mammoth  into  the  hold  of  a 
vessel  and  suck  up  the  grain  with  the  power  and 
rapidity  of  a  typhoon  sucking  up  the  sand  in  the 
desert,  whilst  another  automatic  conductor  con- 
veys the  grain  to  the  storage  lines,  to  canal  boats 
or  to  the  railroad  cars  for  overland  transporta- 
tion. Great  shovels,  operated  by  machinery, 
have  displaced,  in  a  measure,  the  scoopers  in 
feeding  grain  to  the  leg  that  so  rapidly  unloads 
the  vessels. 

Powerful  and  rapid  moving  weaving  machines 
have  displaced  the  hand  looms;  and  immense 


INVENTIONS. 

spinning  jacks  have  forced  out  the  slow  going 
solitary  wheel,  which  is  no  longer  seen  except  in 
histrionic  representations  of  medieval  simplicity. 
These  two  inventions  alone  have  increased  in  a 
most  wonderful  manner  the  products  of  manu- 
facture. In  1770  the  amount  of  manufactured 
cotton  produced  in  England  was  about  two  and 
one-half  million  pounds;  and  experts  claimed 
that  this  amount  could  not  be  increased  oue  hun- 
dred per  cent,  in  thirty  years,  even  though  all 
available  workers  were  taught  the  secrets  of  the 
trade  and  employed  in  the  business.  Inven- 
tions, however,  were  shortly  afterwards  placed 
upon  the  market  that  upset  all  these  calculations, 
and  at  the  beginning  of  the  new  century  British 
manufacturers  were  placing  upon  the  market  a 
yearly  product  of  thirty-seven  million  pounds, 
with  an  increase  in  a  quarter  of  a  century  of 
about  one  hundred  per  cent,  of  operators  and  an 
increase  of  over  fifteen  hundred  per  cent,  of  pro- 
ducts.* Operatives  in  these  branches  at  the 
present  time  cannot  find  continued  imployment, 

*Mallock.  "The  Labor  Problem   and  the  Public 
Welfare." 


102  POPULAR  PKOGRESS. 

though  their  numbers  are  greatly  reduced;  and 
they  are  compelled  to  be  idle  a  portion  of  the 
year,  or  work  for  small  wages. 

There  is  scarcely  a  branch  of  industry  in  which 
manual  labor  is  extensively  employed  that  has 
not  been  invaded  by  the  ubiquitous  Yankee  in- 
ventive genius,  to  learn  how  he  may  substitute 
some  patent  mechanical  device  for  hand  work. 
Imitation  is  the  underlying  principle  in  all  these 
inventions.  Every  movement  of  the  hand  may 
be  duplicated  by  machinery,  and  all  the  wonder- 
ful skill  and  cunning  that  have  been  acquired 
by  hands  through  years  of  practice  in  the  fine 
and  different  branches  of  manufacture  are  imi- 
tated by  complex  movements  of  machinery.  The 
delicate  works  of  a  watch  are  made  by  machinery 
and  they  only  need  the  hand  of  man  to  combine 
them  and  to  place  them  in  position.  Intricate 
work  in  wood  carving  is  done  by  machines,  and 
lines  that  do  not  follow  regular  curves  or  geome- 
tric figure,  such  as  gunstocks,  may  be  traced  by 
these  man-supplanting  devices. 

"Where  great  power  is  necessary  vast  ma- 
chines worked  by  steam  have  superceded  the 


INVENTIONS.  103 

hand  work  of  men.  Dredging  machines  hoist 
more  earth  from  the  water  in  five  minutes  than 
could  be  raised  by  a  dozen  men  in  as  many  hours. 
The  ponderous  trip  hammers,  with  their  ap- 
pliances, beat  into  desired  shape  immense  shafts 
of  iron  and  steel  that  could  not  be  handled  by 
hand  implements,  or  that  would  require  a  small 
army  of  men  to  handle  and  to  hammer  into  the 
proper  form. 

Machinery  has  in  a  great  measure  displaced 
men  in  the-  building  of  railroads  and  canals.  It 
is  stated*  that  the  machinery  sent  to  the  Isthmus 
of  Panama  would  do  the  work  of  one-half  million 
of  men.  The  work  of  building  the  Erie  canal 
was  a  gigantic  task  and  gave  employment  to  ten 
thousand  men  for  seven  or  eight  years,  but  in 
those  days  only  the  pick,  the  shovel  and  the 
wheelbarrow  were  used.  "With  the  same  imple- 
ments the  Isthmus  of  Panama  would  have  given 
employment  to  many  thousands  more  for  a  much 
longer  period. 

The  most  notable  inventions  in  labor-saving 
machinery  in  the  present  century  are  manifest 

*"Kecent  Economic  Changes."     Wells. 


104  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

in  the  art  of  printing.  From  the  discovery  of  the 
art  up  to  the  beginning  of  the  present  century 
no  perceptible  improvement  had  been  made. 
Generation  after  generation  of  printers  stood 
alongside  their  cases  and  set  their  type  in  the 
good  old  fashioned  style.  The  press  was  usually 
worked  by  hand,  and  even  as  late  as  1825  hand 
presses  alone  were  found  in  many  of  the  large 
metropolitan  printing  offices. 

Horse  power  constituted  the  first  step  in  im- 
provement over  the  hand  press.  The  horse 
power  method  seeems  laughable  enough  now, 
with  our  innumerable  steam  and  electric  motors, 
but  at  its  first  introduction  it  was  an  evidence  of 
enterprise  and  progress.  The  horse  was  usually 
placed  in  the  cellar  or  a  room  beneath  the  press, 
and  there  by  moving  in  a  circle,  much  after  the 
manner  of  moving  buildings  now,  he  furnished 
the  rotary  motion  for  the  great  printing  estab- 
lishments. 

Up  to  the  second  decade  of  the  present  cen- 
tury the  presses  were  mere  wooden  affairs,  with 
vice  and  lever  attachments  for  making  impres- 
sions with  each  successive  movement.  In  1820 


1JS  V-fclNTIOTSi  S.  105 

Lord  Stanhope  perfected  a  machine  in  which  the 
bar  was  not  directly  attached  to  the  vice  but  to 
an  outside  cylinder  by  which  a  counter  weight 
brought  back  the  platen  at  each  blow.  Soon 
afterwards  other  improvements  were  made  until 
the  introduction  of  steam  when  the  whole  busi- 
ness was  revolutionized. 

The  great  newspaper  printing  machines  of  the 
present  day  are  vast,  complicated,  automata, 
that  do  the  work  of  scores  of  skillful  hands.* 
They  unroll  and  cut  the  paper;  they  print  and 
fold  the  newspaper,  and  they  count  the  number 
of  copies  that  leave  the  press.  When  colored 
supplements  are  used  a  latteral  department  of 
these  mammoths  will  stamp  the  sheets  with  the 
proper  figures  and  colors,  and  will  regularly 
place  each  one  in  its  proper  place  in  the  main 
copy  as  this  enters  the  folding  department.  Man 
is  merely  necessary  to  write  the  news  and  to  keep 
the  machine  oiled,  and  who  knows  what  wonder- 
ful changes  may  not  be  made  in  these  depart- 
ments in  the  coming  years! 

*"Seventy-five  men  with  the  labor-saving  printing 
inventions  can  do  the  same  amount  of  work  that 
formerly  would  require  ten  thousand  men."  Moody. 


106  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

The  process  of  displacing  labor  has  been  go- 
ing on  in  trades  allied  to  printing,  and  in  the 
making  of  type  and  paper  machines  have 
superceding  hand  work.  In  the  early  part  of  the 
century  old  fashioned  moulds  were  in  use  for 
making  type;  then  distinct  type  foundries  began 
to  spring  up,  and  intricate  machinery  took  the 
place  of  hand  labor.  The  latest  and  highest  de- 
velopment of  type  making  as  well  as  type  setting 
is  found  in  the  linotype,  in  which  the  type  is  in- 
stantly moulded  as  required  for  use  by  a  simple 
touch  of  the  finger  upon  a  key,  as  in  the  type- 
writer, and  the  lettered  type  is  formed  and  drops 
into  place  ready  for  the  impression.  After  use 
this  type  is  thrown  into  the  molten  inetel  in  the 
heated  tank,  where  it  is  dissolved  and  forms  part 
of  the  liquid  lead  which  only  awaits  the  opening 
of  the  key  touched  by  the  finger  of  the  skilled 
operator  to  drop  into  the  mould  and  form  a  letter 
ready  for  the  press.  This  process  is  capable  of 
still  further  development,  and  it  is  within  the 
range  of  possibilities  for  an  operator  at  New 
York,  or  some  other  news  center,  to  set  up  the 
type  on  these  machines  by  electricity  for  all  the 


INVENTIONS. 

newspapers  in  the  State.  Men  are  no  longer 
necessary  except  to  furnish  the  brain  power, 
touch  a  button  and  electricitj-  will  do  the  rest. 

Most  wonderful  changes  have  taken  place  in 
all  the  metal  working  trades,  and  machines  have 
forced  all  the  hand  implements  and  nearly  all 
the  skilled  mechanics  out  of  the  business.  The 
skill  of  the  trained  mechanic  is  only  required  for 
the  highest  grade  of  work,  or  to  put  the  finishing 
touches  on  the  machine  products.  Firearms, 
which  were  formerly  made  by  hand  are  now 
made  almost  entirely  by  machines.  One  man 
now  with  machinery  can  do  fifty  times  the 
amount  of  work  formerly  done  by  hand. 

Twenty-five  or  tliirty  years  ago  carriage  mak- 
ing was  a  respectable  and  profitable  trade  that 
gave  employment  to  skilled  citizens  in  every 
village  and  town  in  the  country;  and  in  the  large 
cities  thousands  found  steady  work  and  good 
wages  in  making  the  finer  grade  of  carriages,  in 
difficult  wheelwright  work,  or  in  the  allied  trades 
of  blacksmithing  and  carriage  painting,  which 
were  carried  on  in  the  same  shop.  Factories 
have  now  obliterated  the  small  shops;  machines 


108  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

have  displaced  skilled  men,  and  a  few  hundred 
medium  priced  handy  men  do  the  work  that 
should  give  employment  to  thousands  of  skilled 
citizens  at  high  wages. 

What  distinct  gain  can  be  discovered  for  civi- 
lization or  for  humanity  in  this  change?  Thou- 
sands of  wagons,  sleighs,  buggies  and  carriages 
of  every  description,  of  an  inferior  grade,  have 
been  placed  on  the  market  because  the  manufac- 
turers were  allured  with  the  prospect  of  greater 
profit  on  account  of  cheaper  methods  of  produc- 
tion, whilst  thousands  of  skilled  artizans  have 
been  forced  out  of  this  well  paying  trade  to  seek 
a  livelihood  in  some  other  branch  of  industry. 
If  this  is  what  our  pseudo  political  economists 
call  progress  and  the  signs  of  advancing  civiliza- 
tion, then  the  ordinary  eye  is  not  fitted  to  see 
things  in  the  rarified  atmosphere  of  this  higher 
science.  The  enormous  profits  promised  by 
cheaper  production  did  not  fulfill  expectations. 
Greed,  as  usual,  led  makers  to  overstock  the 
market,  and  then  competition  reduced  prices, 
and  the  fabulous  fortunes  of  sweet  anticipation 
vanished  like  the  mists. 


INVENTIONS.  109 

Vessel  building  was  formerly  a  great  industry, 
giving  employment  to  thousands  upon  thou- 
sands of  skilled  mechanics  at  good  wages.  The 
ship  carpenter  was  envied  by  the  house  carpen- 
ter, because  he  had  steady  work  and  good  wages 
and  he  always  knew  the  locality  of  his  daily 
labor.  Machinery  has  displaced  labor  at  an 
enormous  rate  in  the  ship  building  trades.  It  is 
true  that  iron  and  steel  enters  largely  now  into 
the  construction  of  vessels,  but  machinery  also 
has  taken  the  place  of  men,  and  now  one  man 
with  the  aid  of  machinery  can  do  the  same 
amount  of  work  that  four  or  five  men  could 
formerly  do  by  hand.*  Band  saws  cut  large 
timbers  into  the  desired  shape,  in  one  half  hour, 
that  would  require  the  labor  of  ten  men  a  half 
day  to  hew  and  plane  and  chisel  to  proper  form. 
The  hand  calker  is  no  longer  needed;  the  work 
is  now  done  by  machinery.  Drilling  holes  for 
bolts  or  rivets  is  done  by  machinery. 

In  1850  there  were  14,585  ship  carpenters, 
1,915  caulkers,  and  the  blacksmiths  must  have 
been  able  to  present  an  imposing  number;  and 

*Eeport  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  1886. 


POPULAE  PEOGEESS. 

yet  the  country  at  that  time  did  not  do  one- 
teuth  of  the  amount  of  commerce  which  it  did 
forty  years  later,  hut  in  1890  there  were  only 
25,934  altogether  reported  as  engaged  in  ship 
building.*  If  the  number  of  persons  employed 
in  this  business  had  increased  in  the  same  ratio 
as  the  commerce  of  the  country  there  should  be 
at  least  200,000  reported  for  this  industry  in 
1890. 

In  1850  the  census  reported  99,703  black- 
smiths; in  1880  the  number  was  50,634,  and  in 
this  number  was  included  wheelwrights,  and  in 
1890  the  number  of  these  two  classes  was  50,- 
867.**  If  we  compute  the  prosperity  of  the 
country  by  the  volume  of  trade,  the  country  is 
progressing  finely;  if  we  compute  prosperity  by 
the  relative  number  employed,  it  is  going  back- 
ward. 

In  the  manufacture  of  wine  machinery  has 
been  introduced  to  take  the  place  of  hand  labor. 
A  crushing  machine  with  one  man  will  easily  do 

*Census,    1890. 

**Our  Census  officials  have  mixed  up  the  trades 
in  such  a  manner  that  it  is  difficult  to  institute  e^-, 
act  comparisons. 


INVENTIONS. 

the  same  amount  of  work  in  a  day  that  was 
formerly  done  by  eight  men  with  hand  ma- 
chines. Even  the  hand  crushers  are  machine 
methods  in  comparison  with  the  hand,  or  rather 
foot,  system  of  crushing  grapes,  much  in 
vogue  in  some  parts  of  Europe.  The  wine  is  not 
improved  by  machine  methods;  it  even  de- 
teriorates, because  the  machines  crush  the  seeds 
and  add  the  acid,  bitter  flavor  of  the  seeds  10  the 
mature  nature  sweetened  juice  of  the  grapes. 
But  this  is  progress ! 

Machines  do  the  fine  and  difficult  work  of 
planing,  turning  and  shaping  the  wood  work  for 
musical  instruments,  and  one  boy  with  the  aid 
of  a  machine  can  do  the  work  of  twenty-five  men. 

One  man  with  modern  machinery  can  turn 
out  about  two  hundred  and  seventy-eight  sound- 
ing boards  in  a  day,  whilst  formerly  four  was  a 
good  day's  work  for  an  expert  artisan.* 

Cigar  making  was,  until  labor-saving  devices 

were  introduced  into  the  business,  one  of  the 

great  trades,  giving  employment  to  thousands  cf 

men  at  good  wages.     Cigarette  making  offered 

*Keport  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  1886. 


POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

remunerative  employment  to  thousands  of  girls, 
because  here  neatness  and  dexterity  were  of  more 
importance  than  expert  skill.  The  machine  has 
now  driven  man  and  girl  from  these  occupations 
except  in  some  of  the  smaller  shops  where  they 
still  cling  to  hand  methods,  or  in  the  finer  grades 
of  work,  because  inventive  genius  has  not  yet 
been  able  to  give  to  machines  the  cunning  of  the 
hand  of  man.  A  great  trust  has  been  formed 
of  the  cigarette  factories,  and  the  old  hand 
methods  that  gave  employment  to  hundreds  and 
thousands  have  been  abolished,  and  machines 
have  been  substituted  for  girls;  they  do  more 
work  and  they  lessen  the  cost  of  production. 
This  is  the  result  of  enlightened  economy  and 
fin  de  siecle  civilization.  One  girl  with  a  modern 
machine  can  make  more  cigarettes  in  a  day  than 
ten  girls  could  make  by  hand.  Machines  for 
making  cigars  displace,  at  least,  three  times  the 
number  of  men  that  would  be  required  without 
their  use. 

Machines  are  used  for  turning  out  pills  by  the 
thousand;  machines  make  pins  and  needles,  and 


INVENTIONS. 

they  make  the  fine  and  intricate  parts  of  clocks 
and  watches. 

In  Switzerland  there  are  forty  thousand  per- 
sons employed  in  watch  making.  If  the  labor- 
saving  machinery  used  in  the  same  industry  in 
the  United  States  were  introduced  there  only 
eight  thousand  four  hundred  would  be  required 
to  turn  out  the  same  amount  of  work.  Their 
statesmen  may  not  believe  in  the  crazy  quilt 
philosonhy  that  guides  our  theorists  here,  and 
they  may  not  put  into  practice  the  pauperizing 
principles  of  political  economy  that  lead  to  in- 
dustrial depression  and  starvation. 

The  wonderful  powers  of  electricity  have  been 
applied  of  late  years  to  the  principles  of  pro- 
duction, not  only  in  supplying  motor  power  but 
also  in  the  working  of  metals  where  heat  is  re- 
quired for  solution  or  combination'.  Man  has 
not  yet  learned  to  utilize  to  its  fullest  extent  all 
the  subtle  capabilities  of  this  magic  power.  How 
much  of  an  aid  will  it  be  to  man  in  assisting  him 
to  extract  food  and  wealth  from  the  great  store- 
house of  nature?  In  what  measure  will  it  dis- 
place man  in  the  actual  field  of  labor?  It  al- 


POPULAK  PROGKESS. 

ready  goes  down  into  the  mine  and  helps  to  ex- 
tract the  ore;  it  furnishes  the  motor  power  to 
haul  the  ore  to  the  smelting  works  or  the  re- 
fining factory;  it  supplies  heat  for  smelting, 
moulding  and  amalgamating  metals;  it  has  revo- 
lutionized the  methods  of  lighting  cities  and  of 
transporting  passengers,  and  yet  men  have  only 
mastered  the  rudimentary  principles  of  its  ap- 
plication. 

Electricity  has  displaced  labor  in  some  works, 
but  figures  are  not  available  to  show  the  amount 
of  such  displacement.  It  is  related  that  the 
most  wonderful  change  Mr.  Carnegie  noted 
during  his  three  years'  absence  from  one  of  his 
works,  was  effected  by  the  substitution  of  elec- 
tricity for  hand  work;  three  men  with  the  aid  of 
machines  and  electricity  could  do  the  same 
amount  of  work  that  three  hundred  men  could 
formerly  do  by  old  methods.  The  practical  ap- 
plication is  in  its  infancy  yet.  It  can  be  mado 
to  contribute  to  man's  comfort  and  pleasure;  or 
it  will  add  to  the  misery  and  unhappiness  of  the 
world  as  the  honor  or  the  greed  of  men  shall  die- 


INVENTIONS. 

tate.  Its  development  depends  upon  the  prin- 
ciples which  the  coming  years  will  unfold. 

The  inventions  of  the  present  century  have 
not  only  excelled  those  of  any  preceding  cen- 
tury in  number  and  importanuce,  but  it  would 
not  be  a  very  great  exaggeration  to  say  that  they 
equal  those  of  all  the  preceding  centuries  com- 
bined. Have  they  added  to  the  general  well 
being  and  happiness  of  mankind  in  proportion 
to  their  number  and  importance?  What  has 
been  the  object,  or  motive,  of  all  these  inven- 
tions ?  Has  it  been  the  happiness  of  mankind  or 
the  making  of  money?  Every  one,  even  those 
with  half  wit,  will  say  that  the  purpose  of  all 
these  inventions  was  to  make  money.  If  the 
happiness  of  mankind  entered  into  the  calcula- 
tion it  was  only  as  a  purchasable  quantity  to  be 
attained  by  a  sufficient  outlay  of  dollars  and 
cents  for  the  use  of  the  invention.  It  would  not 
be  surprising  then  if  mankind  in  general  had 
been  injured  instead  of  having  been  benefited 
by  the  multiplicity  of  inventions. 

Machines  have  lowered  the  prices  of  products, 
but  they  have  at  the  same  time  curtailed  the  pur- 


POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

chasing  power  by  diminishing  the  opportunities 
of  employment. 

Wages  are  reported  higher  in  late  years ;  but  it 
will  be  found  that  this  is  true  only  of  those  trades 
in  which  wages  are  sustained  by  strong  unions. 
These  trades  unions  alone  have  saved  the  label 
market  of  America  from  degenerating  into  a 
slave  market.  The  statistics  on  wages  are  not 
altogether  reliable.  We  cannot  judge  of  the 
state  of  wages  gained  by  the  mass  of  toilers  from 
some  selected  industry  or  establishment.  The 
wages  paid  in  some  prosperous  establishment, 
where  the  employees  belong  to  trades  unions, 
will  present  a  very  favorable  comparison  with 
past  years,  but  will  the  total  wages  paid  to  labor 
throughout  the  country  show  an  increase  in  keep- 
ing with  the  growth  of  the  population  when  com- 
pared with  the  conditions  that  prevailed  before 
labor-saving  machinerv  was  so  extensively  used? 

Labor  has  not  profited  by  the  invention  and 
use  of  labor-saving  machinery;  it  has  suffered 
and  very  extensively.  To  improve  the  condition 
of  labor  wages  should  be  higher,  the  hours  should 


INVENTIONS. 

be  shorter,  or  work  should  be  abundant;  but  not 
onv3  of  these  is  absolutely  true. 

Some  claim  that  wages  are  higher.  They  are 
in  some  trades,  but  they  are  not  the  effect  of  the 
use  of  labor-saving  machinery,  but  the  result  of 
trades  unions.  Without  unions  and  federations 
operators  in  every  branch  of  industry  would  be 
in  a  most  pitiable  condition  today.  The  over 
supply  and  consequent  competition  would  have 
reduced  wages  below  the  starvation  point  with- 
out these  unions.  Before  the  advent  of  labor- 
saving  devices  farm  hands  received  twenty-five 
or  thirty  dollars  a  month;  now  they  do  not  receive 
more  than  one-half  that  amount ;  clerks  in  stores 
work  for  three  or  four  dollars  a  week;  type- 
writers and  bookkeepers  work  for  four  or  five 
dollars  a  week;  garment  makers  work  for  five  or 
six  dollars  a  week;  miners  make  four  or  five 
dollars  a  week,  because  employment  is  so  scarce 
and  the  supply  of  labor  so  abundant  that  people 
are  glad  to  get  even  these  low  wages. 

The  use  of  machinery  has  increased  the  hours 
of  labor;*  and  if  the  hours  are  shorter  in  any 

*"The    Decorator  and  Furnisher." 


POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

branch  of  industry,  it  is  because  laws  have  re- 
stricted them,  or  because  labor  unions  have 
forced  employers  to  concede  them.  Where  the 
supply  of  labor  is  over  abundant  wages  are  in- 
evitably lowered  and  the  hours  are  lengthened, 
unless  these  are  maintained  by  moral  power  or 
by  positive  laws. 

There  is  no  room  for  argument  on  the  subject 
of  the  abundance  of  work.  The  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  idle  men  and  women  tell  more 
strongly  than  any  other  argument  that  labo^ 
saving  machines  have  ruined  the  labor  market 
and  have  diminished  the  means  of  obtaining  a 
livelihood. 

We  might  divide  all  the  inventions  of  the 
century  into  two  classes! ;  those  that  add  to  the 
comfort  and  happiness  of  mankind  in  general, 
and  those  which  lessen  the  cost  of  production  by 
displacing  labor.  The  former  are  not  neces- 
sarily the  offspring  of  beneficent  minds  and  in- 
tended solely  to  add  to  the  sum  of  human  hap- 
piness. They  may  be  mercenary  in  their  inspira- 
tion as  well  as  the  latter,  but  their  originators  did 
not  aim  at  financial  reward  by  forcing  men  from 


INVENTIONS. 

remunerative  fields  of  labor.  They  add  to  the 
comforts  and  happiness  of  life  without  increas- 
ing the  sum  of  human  miseries  and  want.  These 
mark  the  progress  of  the  human  race  in  the 
march  of  civilization.  Those  other  inventions 
which  do  not  perform  any  operation  that  can- 
not be  done  just  as  well,  or  even  better,  by  hand 
and  whose  only  purpose  is  to  displace  labor  and 
lessen  the  cost  of  production,  merely  mark  man's 
progress  in  rapacity  and  greed.  They  are  not 
symbols  of  civilization  because  they  violate  the 
rights  of  mankind  to  the  means  of  obtaining  a 
livelihood,  and  because  they  diminish  the  means 
of  procuring  happiness. 

Labor  has  not  profited  in  any  measure  by 
labor-saving  inventions.  Labor-saving  machines 
have  greatly  diminished  the  demand  for  skilled 
labor.  Now  boys  or  laborers  may  tend  machines 
and  do  the  work  that  formerly  required  skilled 
mechanics.  Dull  monotony  has  superceded 
skilled  variety.  Intelligence  is  no  longer  neces- 
sary in  turning  out  fine  work;  machines  supply 
the  skill  and  anybody  can  tend  to  the  machine. 
A  monotonous  uniform  motion  is  all  that  is  re- 


120  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

quired  to  supply  many  machines  with  material; 
there  is  no  call  or  room  for  the  exercise  of  intel- 
ligence, and  it  is  not  surprising,  as  an  observer 
remarked,  that  men  take  to  drink  as  soon  as  the 
day's  work  is  done. 

Poor  wages,  less  requirements  of  intelligence 
and  skill  in  operators  have  served  to  degrade, 
morally  and  socially,  those  employed  in  manu- 
facturing by  machine  systems.  High  wages  as 
the  reward  of  skill  would  command  respect  and 
would  give  labor  a  standing  in  the  community. 

Our  merchants  and  manufacturers  boast  of 
being  able  to  undersell  European  producers  in 
their  own  market,  even  in  those  lines  of  goods 
of  which  they  were  supposed  to  have  a  mono- 
poly either  by  reason  of  their  long  experience  or 
their  cheap  labor.  Our  inventors  have  studied 
not  only  to  displace  labor  by  machinery  but  have 
also  directed  their  genius  to  increasing  the  effi- 
ciency of  machinery  by  multiplying  the  opera- 
tions without  an  addition  of  time.  Machines 
will  drill  a  dozen  holes  in  the  same  time  that 
they  would  formerly  drill  one,  and  this  increase 


INVENTIONS. 

of  efficiency  has  lessened  most  perceptibly  tne 
cost  of  production. 

Formerly  our  statesmen  claimed  that  Ameri- 
can workmen  could  not  compete  with  foreign 
cheap  labor;  now  English  manufacturers  say 
that  American  cheap  labor  is  ruining  their  busi- 
ness, and  they  must  lower  wages  if  they  wish  to 
hold  their  trade.*  New  inventions  to  increase 
the  producing  power  of  machines,  displacing 
labor  or  otherwise  lessening  the  cost  of  produc- 
tion, place  our  manufacturers  at  an  advantage 
over  their  English  rivals. 

We  are  proud  of  our  vast  foreign  trade,  but 
it  is  being  secured  at  the  sacrifice  of  industrial 
prosperity  which  should  constitute  the  nation's 
honor.  We  can  undersell  European  cheap  labor 
in  their  home  markets  because  we  substitute  ma- 
chines for  men.  If  wealth**  is  of  more  account 
than  the  happiness  of  men,  then  we  are  on  the 

*This  is  the  answer  of  manufacturers  to  the  la- 
bor representatives  in  the  present  great  strike  ol 
engineers  and  steel  workers  in  England. 

**Wealth  threatens  to  dominate  mankind  in  the 
future  as  tyranny  did  in  the  past.  Morris,  "Civiliza- 
tion." 


POITLAR    I'KOCKESS. 

high  road  to  commercial  supremacy  and  are  lead- 
ing the  van  of  a  new  civilization. 

Civilization  has  its  ebb  and  flow  like  the  tides, 
as  in  the  different  periods  of  human  history  men 
are  controlled  by  some  dominant  idea.  The  an- 
cients surpassed  us  in  literature  and  sculpture, 
and  the  painting  of  today  is  not  up  to  the  stand- 
ard of  past  centuries.  We  have  had  a  stone  age 
and  an  iron  age,  and  it  looks  now  as  if  we  were  to 
have  a  machine  age.  Machines  are  substituted 
in  every  possible  way  for  men;  and  some  seem 
to  think  that  this  is  the  symbol  of  our  civiliza- 
tion, accomplishing  greater  results  with  less 
effort.  Fine  arts  are  no  longer  the  product  of 
genius,  skill  and  patient  toil ;  they  are  now  made 
by  machines.  Eaffael,  Rubens,  and  Firatorel 
were  poor  benighted  beings  of  the  dark  ages  who 
labored  long  months  on  one  work ;  now  machines 
can  stamp  thousands  of  our  high  grade  art  paint- 
ings in  a  day!  What  need  of  a  Paderewski,  a 
Rubenstein,  a  Wilhelmj  in  this  progressive  age? 
Have  we  not  our  steam  calliope  that  will  grind 
out  music  in  unlimited  quantities,  and  it  only 
needs  fuel  and,  perhaps,  a  little  oil  occasionally 


INVENTIONS.  123 

to  keep  it  going?  We  have  our  hand  organ  and 
street  pianos  that  only  need  a  strong  arm  to  turn 
out  ceaseless  music  Greater  production  at  less 
cost!  Behold  the  spirit  of  the  age,  the  symbol 
of  fin  de  siecle  civilization! 

There  is  ample  field  for  all  the  inventive 
genius  of  the  world  to  discover  the  still  hidden 
powers  of  nature  and  subordinate  them  to  the 
uses  of  men  without  inventing  machines  to  take 
bread  from  the  mouth  of  the  poor,  increasing  the 
poverty  and  adding  to  the  sum  of  human  misery. 
Cities  may  be  beautified,  homes  may  be  adorned 
and  the  comforts,  conveniences  and  happiness  of 
mankind  may  be  increased  a  hundred  fold  by 
inventions  yet  to  come.  The  principles  of  light 
and  heat  are  not  yet  fully  understood  or  reduced 
to  practical  forms;  the  uses  to  which  electricity 
may  be  put  are  still  in  the  region  of  the  un- 
known; medicine  and  the  art  of  conserving  hu- 
man life  are  still  in  embryo;  and  there  are  mys- 
terious powers  still  hidden  in  nature's  great  store- 
house awaiting  the  explorer's  coming  to  be  added 
to  the  grandeur  of  the  triumph  of  the  genius  of 
man. 


124  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

Inventions  which  add  to  the  comfort,  pleasure 
and  happiness  of  mankind,  without  throwing 
men  out  of  employment,  are  the  true  symbols  of 
progress  and  civilization.  Among  the  more  re- 
cent ones  of  this  class  may  be  mentioned  the 
bicycle  and  the  barrel  shaped  churn.  Tne  bicycle 
has  not  displaced  anyone  in  the  field  of  labor.  It 
has  given  employment  to  half  a  million  of  men 
in  the  different  branches  of  manufacture  and 
sale.  Without  it  half  a  million  more  would  have 
been  added  to  the  idle  toilers  in  the  past  year,  to 
walk  the  streets  looking  for  work.  It  may  have 
taken  some  of  the  traffic*  from  the  railways,  but 
the  general  public  will  not  consider  this  a  loss. 
The  churn  has  been  a  great  blessing  to  the 
farmer's  wife,  upon  whom  generally  devolved 
the  task  of  making  butter;  and  it  has  taken  away 
much  of  the  hardship  from  an  irksome  task. 

Inventions  which  do  not  add  to  the  means  of 
comfort  and  happiness  of  the  general  public  and 

*The  bicycle  has  not  to  any  extent  taken  the 
place  of  one  horse  and  carriage.  At  the  twenty- 
fifth  annual  convention  of  the  Carriage  Builders' 
Association,  N.  Y.,  Oct.,  1897,  it  was  the  opinion: 
"The  substitution  of  the  bicycle  for  the  carriage 
has  been  such  only  to  a  limited  extent,  and  the 
barm  done  to  our  trade  is  nominal." 


INVENTIONS. 

which  serve  no  other  purpose  than  to  add  to  the 
revenue  of  a  few  individuals  by  displacing  labor, 
and  adding  to  the  general  distress,  should  be 
either  prohibited  by  law  or  should  be  taxed  to 
the  full  amount  of  labor  displaced.  They  con- 
tribute nothing  to  the  true  civilization,  progress 
or  happiness  of  the  world.  They  breed  anarchy 
and  discontent  by  depriving  the  toilers  of  the 
means  of  procuring  happiness,  and  offer  unjust 
advantages  to  those  using  them  to  grow  rich  at 
the  expense  of  the  poor. 

If  it  is  the  first  duty  of  a  civilized  govern- 
ment to  protect  its  subjects  in  their  rights  to  the 
means  of  happiness,  it  is  the  duty  of  that  govern- 
ment to  prohibit  the  use  of  inventions  which 
absorb  or  destroy  those  means.  A  free  govern- 
ment will  not  do  this  through  paternal  instinct  or 
a  sense  of  honor,  but  it  may  be  forced  to  adopt 
these  just  principles  through  the  concerted  ac- 
tions of  its  interested  citizens.  There  is  ample 
field  for  the  employment  of  inventive  genius  in 
developing  methods  for  beautifying  the  world 
and  rendering  more  easy  the  lot  of  human  life 
without  inventing  methods  of  taking  bread  from 


126  POPULAK  PKOGKESS. 

the  poor  man's  mouth,  and  government  sanction 
should  not  be  given,  through  the  patent  office,  to 
those  inventions  whose  only  purpose  is  to  enrich 
a  few  at  the  expense  of  the  multitudes,  and 
which  are  opposed  to  the  general  welfare  of  the 
great  mass  of  people. 


CHAPTEE  VII. 

LAWS  AND  LAW-MAKING. 

Law,  at  one  time,  meant  an  ordinance  estab- 
lished by  lawful  authority  for  the  public  good. 
LLW  is  still  a  sacred  guide  to  the  common  people ; 
and  they  believe  it  to  be  what  nature  intended  it 
slould  be,  a  reflection  of  the  Divine  mind  ruling 
tlie  world.  If  the  public  good  were  the  object 
of  all  legislative  and  municipal  law,  then  the 
people  of  the  United  States  should  be  the  most 
happy  and  prosperous  in  the  world.  The  people 
send  their  representatives  to  the  Congress,  to  the 
state  legislatures,  and  to  the  city  councils,  and 
all  these  diligently  labor  for  several  months  each 
year  in  passng  laws  for  the  guidance  of  the 
people. 

It  does  seem  passing  strange  that  with  all 
these  numerous  law-making  bodies,  and  their 
rapid  transit  facilities  for  turning  out  laws,  that 
the  public  should  be  in  such  a  pitiable  plight,  and 
that  lamentations  should  be  heard  throughout 
the  land  instead  of  peons  of  praise  and  thanks- 
giving. Is  it  possible  that  prosperity  is  not  de- 


128  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

pendent  upon  the  will  of  man,  and  that  it  can- 
not be  conjured  into  being  by  human  law?  Do 
not  all  these  law-makers  sacrifice  their  time  to 
serve  their  country  and  their  fellow  men,  and  do 
they  not  keep  before  their  eyes  continually  the 
great  aim  of  all  their  labors,  the  good  of  their 
country  and  the  welfare  of  their  fellow  men? 

Whenever  the  land  was  threatened  by  f  oreigi 
invaders,  or  by  internal  foes,  thousands  of  brave 
men  left  their  homes  to  defend  their  country. 
Patriotism  does  not  depend  upon  the  bloody  car- 
nage of  war  for  its  life.  Men  can  serve  their 
country  in  peace  as  well  as  in  war,  in  the  legis- 
lative hall  as  well  as  on  the  field  of  battle.  Men 
are  even  more  eager  to  serve  their  country  in 
official  capacity  in  time  of  peace  than  in  war; 
but  is  the  magnet  that  draws  them  the  love  of 
country  and  their  fellow  men  or  the  love  of  gold? 

A  history  of  legislation  in  our  national  capital, 
in  our  state  legislature,  and  in  our  city  councils 
might  reveal  the  sordid  motives  which  animate 
our  statesmen  in  the  framing  of  our  innumerable 
laws.  The  unselfish  patriotism  of  our  fathers 
has  vanished  from  the  land.  No  man  now  seeks 


LAWS  AND  LAW-MAKING. 

public  office  except  from  selfish  motives.  Men 
once  served  their  country  from  a  sense  of  honor, 
and  devoted  their  time  and  talents  to  the  inter- 
ests of  their  fellow  men.  If  all  this  is  changed 
now  it  is  not  because  men  have  deteriorated,  but 
because  conditions  have  changed,  and  instead  of 
the  Goddess  of  Justice,  or  the  Goddess  of  Love, 
being  the  symbol  of  the  spirit  that  guides  our 
law-making  bodies,  it  is  the  spirit  of  Evil,  or 
Mammon. 

Individuals  and  great  corporations  long  ago 
learned  that  they  could  secure  very  valuable 
franchises  and  privileges  through  laws  passed  by 
the  representatives  of  the  people;  and  as  these 
privileges  were  worth  enormous  sums  of  money, 
when  measured  according  to  market  values,  men 
were  ready  to  buy  them,  or  buy  the  means  of 
obtaining  them;  and  when  the  law-makers 
found  that  their  votes  were  worth  large  sums  of 
money,  which  could  be  obtained  without  any  ap- 
parent sacrifice  of  honor,  it  was  quite  natural 
that  they  should  adopt  this  means  of  increasing 
their  income  or  acquiring  a  fortune.  In  nearly 
all  legislative  bodies  rings  are  formed  under  the 


130  POPULAK  PEOGRESS. 

control  of  corporations  or  individuals  to  secure 
laws  conferring  exclusive  and  valuable  privi- 
leges, which  are  merely  a  transfer  of  public  right 
to  private  title;  and  any  individual  member  of 
such  body  of  probity  and  honor  cannot  obtain 
the  passage  of  any  law,  however  just  and  neces- 
sary it  might  be,  unless  he  works  with  the  ring 
in  some  disreputable  scheme.  This  may  seem 
to  some  like  unjust  accusations,  or  like  the  grue- 
some theory  of  a  pessimist  who  cannot  see  any 
brightness  in  life  or  honor  in  men;  but  the  fact 
is  so  patent  it  scarcely  needs  proof. 

St.  Clair  McKelway,  editor  of  the  Brooklyn 
Eagle,  in  his  address  at  the  graduating  exercises 
of  Union  College,  this  year,*  made  the  following 
caustic  reference  to  the  sale  of  legislation :  "The 
nation  which  abolished  the  sale  of  human  beings 
is  being  accustomed  to  the  sale  of  law  ....  Our 
legislatures  of  all  grades  are  becoming  expert 
practitioners  of  this  evil.  The  venality  of  alder- 
men is  a  proverb.  The  corruption  of  boards  of 
supervisors  is  a  habit.  The  ownership  of  legis- 
latures is  constantly  in  evidence.  The  assault  of 

•1897. 


LAWS  AND  LAW-MAKING. 

landed  interests,  affected  by  a  money  relation 
to  law,  upon  Congress,  terrorizes  the  timid,  scan- 
dalizes the  moral  and  appals  the  thoughtful.  The 
illicit  getting  of  money  by  political  bosses  for 
political  purposes  has  been  reduced  to  a  system 
which  has  enabled  these  bosses  absolutely  to 
create  legislatures  and  congresses  elected  to  deal 
with  the  very  iniquities  to  which  they  owe  their 
existence.  The  corporations  which  these  col- 
lectors of  blackmail  have  successfully  assaulted 
seek  compensation  out  of  the  public  treasury  by 
privileges  and  monopolies  enacted  by  boughten 
laws." 

A  conservative  journal,  in  editorial  comment 
of  this  address,  says :  "No  one  questions  the  in- 
fluence of  wealth  in  legislative  halls,  and  in  the 
minds  of  many  thoughtful  persons  it  constitutes 
the  chief  danger  of  the  American  Republic. 
Only  the  most  persistent  optimist  will  assert  that 
there  is  any  visible  improvement  in  this  respect 
from  year  to  year.  The  evil  grows  in  magni- 
tude, and  must  eventually  threaten  popular  gov- 
ernment, if  not  checked." 


132  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

The  privileges  which  are  granted  to  indi- 
viduals and  corporations  by  legislative  enact- 
ment are  rights  of  the  people  which  could  not 
in  justice  be  alienated  without  proper  compensa- 
tion to  the  owners.  Robbery  is  the  unjust 
taking  away  of  one's  property  by  violence;  and 
theft  is  the  taking  away  of  the  same  by  stealth: 
but  the  conferring  of  valuable  privileges  em- 
bracing the  property  and  rights  of  the  public, 
without  adequate  compensation  contains  all  the 
moral  iniquity  of  each  of  these  crimes  without 
the  risk  of  contracting  the  legal  guilt  of  either. 
Men  who  take  part  in  legislation  which  helps 
to  enrich  themselves  by  defrauding  the  public 
are  not  looked  upon  as  dishonorable  or  dishonest ; 
and  they  mingle  in  society  as  respectable  mem- 
bers of  the  community,  their  success  often  being 
a  passport  to  exclusive  circles.  It  is  true  that 
public  opinion  is  occasionally  aroused  to  such  a 
pitch  that  officials  are  forced  to  send  a  few  alder- 
men to  prison;  but  the  awful  dignity  of  higher 
legislators  surrounds  their  personality  with  invis- 
ible protection,  something  like  the  divinity  that 


LAWS  AND  LAW-MAKING.  133 

doth  hedge  a  king,  and  shields  them  from  any 
imputation  of  venality. 

When  men  have  learned  to  stifle  any  qualms 
of  conscience  in  the  conduct  of  public  affairs,  it 
is  but  a  step  further  to  introduce  the  same  prin- 
ciples in  their  private  business.  Money  is  be- 
coming more  and  more  the  standard  of  men's 
worth ;  and  the  millionaires  of  every  town  belong 
to  the  inner  circle  of  the  "best  people."  No  ques- 
tion is  asked  regarding  the  methods  by  which 
men  have  acquired  wealth.  The  fact  of  its  legal 
existence  overawes  the  public,  and  commands, 
at  least  openly,  the  respect  which  the  wrorld  be- 
stows upon  greatness, 

The  country  could  dispense  with  the  services 
of  many  of  its  law-making  bodies  for  long  peri- 
ods, with  profit  to  its  prosperity;  for  our  honor- 
able legislators  no  longer  serve  their  country,  but 
they  are  the  humble  servants  of  trusts,  of  cor- 
porations and  political  rings.  The  success  of 
their  public  career  depends  upon  their  fidelity 
to  party  principles.  Party  principles  are  a  com- 
bination of  good  and  evil:  some  good  public 
policy,  to  catch  the  public  eye  and  gain  votes; 


134  POPULAK  PROGRESS. 

and  the  passage  of  iniquitous  laws  that  will  bring 
money  into  their  coffers,  either  directly  or 
through  the  trusts  in  whose  interests  these  laws 
are  passed. 

Patriotism  pays  poorly  in  these  days.  It  will 
reward  its  devotees  with  honor  and  fame;  but  a 
man  cannot  live  in  style  and  comfort  on  these. 
Trusts  pay  well  in  current  money,  and  money  is 
as  necessary  for  the  life  of  political  rings  and 
parties  as  it  is  for  the  individual.  We  are  not 
surprised,  then,  to  find  the  granting  of  valuable 
franchises  made  a  party  issue  ;*  for  in  this  way 
parties  repay  the  trusts  for  enormous  contribu- 
tions to  campaign  expenses.  The  trusts  and  the 
political  rings  have  mutual  interests,  and  both 
thrive  by  preying  on  the  people.  Yet  this  is  a 
free  country,  and  this  is  a  government  of  the 
people,  for  the  people,  by  the  people !  It  is  about 
time  for  the  people  to  be  awakened  from  their 

*Two  rival  corporations  in  New  York  City  were 
recently  struggling  to  obtain  a  valuable  franchise 
from  the  aldermen,  and  each  corporation  had  the 
backing  of  one  of  the  two  great  parties.  The 
franchise  meant  money  and  votes  to  the  successful 
party. 


LAWS  AND  LAW-MAKING. 

lethargy,  and  be  taught  to  assume  their  prerog- 
atives. 

Americans  are  patriotic  and  law-abiding. 
They  love  their  country  and  are  disposed  to 
obey  all  her  laws.  They  do  not  stop  to  question 
the  methods  that  have  been  employed  to  pasa 
laws  that  infringe  on  their  rights,  or  that  usurp 
their  title,  vested  in  the  State,  to  public  property. 
It  is  sufficient  for  them  that  a  law  has  been 
passed  by  a  legal  law-making  body,  and  they  are 
willing  to  obey  it. 

If  there  are  any  wrongs  in  the  labor  problem 
that  may  be  righted  by  legislation,  or  any  change 
beneficial  to  labor  that  may  be  effected  by  law, 
the  remedy  lies  in  the  hands  of  the  toilers.  The 
toilers  should  be  able  to  control  every  legislative 
body  in  the  United  States.  It  is  the  only  method 
that  offers  any  hope  of  success,  and  they  do  not 
understand  their  own  interests  if  they  do  not 
makeuseof  this  facile  means  of  promoting  them. 
The  idea  that  party  politics  would  destroy  the 
harmony  of  trades  unions  has  been  one  of  their 
fundamental  principles,  and,  as  they  believed, 
one  of  their  cardinal  virtues.  They  need  not  have 


136  POPULAR  PROGKKSR. 

anything  to  do  with  party  principles;  their  own 
interests  are  sufficiently  vast  to  engage  their 
whole  attention.  They  may  leave  office  hunting, 
except  legislative,  and  spoils-hunting,  as  well 
as  party  principles,  to  the  political  hacks  and 
party  machines.  They  should  not  consider  any 
principle  or  policy  which  does  not  directly  effect 
their  own  interests.  In  this  way  mere  politics 
will  be  excluded  from  their  meetings;  but  they 
will  make  a  fatal  mistake  if  they  do  not  aim  to 
secure  legislative  power.* 

*Edward  Harford,  who  with  Havelock  Wilson,  M. 
P.,  constituted  the  British  Trades  Unions  delega- 
tion to  the  Nashville  convention  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor,  sailed  for  Southampton  on 
the  American  liner  St.  Paul  today.  Before  sailing, 
Mr.  Harford  said:  "The  policy  of  the  American 
Trades  Unions  in  not  engaging  in  politics  as  a  body 
is  stupid.  How  can  they  expect  to  obtain  any  last- 
ing reforms  if  they  hold  aloof?  By  pursuing  their 
present  mummy  plan  of  ignoring  the  control  of 
political  machinery  as  a  means  of  bettering  their 
condition,  they  are  not  only  fatally  Ignoring  their 
chances,  but  are  inviting  the  scorn  of  the  politi- 
cians— the  very  class  from  whom  they  expect  to  get 
better  laws  for  the  masses.  Your  American  politi- 
cian, as  a  rule,  is  moved  into  legislation,  for  the 
masses  only  by  show  of  superior  force.  Let  the 
trades  unions  force  this  style  of  puppet  into  retire- 
ment and  send  men  to  boards  of  Aldermen,  Legis- 
latures and  Congress  who  will  not  pretend  to  be 
the  friends  of  the  people  in  speeches  and  in  secret 
sell  out  to  the  corporations  and  money  power." 


LAWS  AND  LAW-MAKING.  137 

When  we  consider  the  millions  upon  millions 
expended  every  year  upon  legislative  bodies  in 
the  united  States,  we  must  conclude  that  Amer- 
ica is  the  best  governed  country  in  the  world.  The 
United  States  expends  probably  more  upon  legis- 
lation than  any  country  in  the  world.  Members 
are  elected  to  make  laws,  and  each  one  feels 
that  the  responsibility  of  his  position  and  his 
duties  to  his  constituents,  require  him  to  have 
at  least  one  law  passed  during  his  term.  We 
have  statutes  on  every  conceivable  subject,  from 
the  governmnt  of  the  army  to  the  regulation  of 
fish  and  fowl. 

There  are  about  two  hundred  members  in  the 
New  York  State  Legislature;  and  if  every  mem- 
ber has  only  one  bill  passed  we  will  have  at  least 
two  hundred  new  statutes  each  year.  When  we 
add  to  these  the  laws  of  Congress  and  municipal 
laws  we  can  understand  something  of  the  thou- 
sands upon  thousands  of  laws  and  statutes  that 
are  forced  upon  the  forbearing  citizens  of  the 
United  States.  Many  of  these  laws  are  merely 
schemes  to  strengthen  the  party  or  plunder  the 
public  treasury;  whilst  others  grant  franchises  to 


133  POPULAK  PROGRESS. 

corporations,  which  legislators  have  no  right  to 
give  without  just  compensation  to  the  people. 

The  laws  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  the 
State  of  New  York  for  the  last  one  hundred 
years  fill  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  pages 
of  printed  books ;  and  every  year  about  one  hun- 
dred pages  more  are  added  to  this  vast  volume 
of  statute  law.  If  these  laws  added  to  the  com- 
fort, happiness  or  well  being  of  the  citizens  in 
general  there  might  be  some  excuse  for  their 
vastness;  but,  as  a  rule,  they  only  place  intoler- 
able burdens  of  taxation  upon  the  many  by 
granting  special  privileges  to  the  few. 

The  great  majority  of  the  members  of  the 
legislature  are  young  men  who  have  made  no 
special  study  of  the  science  of  government,  and 
have  no  conception  of  the  true  needs  of  the 
country.  They  are  young  lawyers  and  business 
men  whose  ideal  is  the  party  leader;  whose  con- 
ception of  duty  is  to  serve  the  party  that  placed 
them  in  power,  or  to  further  the  interests  of 
corporations  that  will  generously  reward  them. 

In  every  business  of  great  importance  special 
training,  or  skill  and  experience,  are  necessary 


LAWS  AND  LAW-MAKING. 

for  a  successful  career;  but  in  law-making  suc- 
cess depends  upon  ability  to  have  bills  passed, 
and  to  keep  in  with  the  party  leaders  to  secure 
another  term. 

The  science  of  government,  especially  as  man- 
ifested through  our  statute  laws,  has  not  kept  in 
line  with  the  progress  in  every  other  branch  of 
science  and  art.  Law  has  been  a  mere  play- 
thing in  the  hands  of  designing  men;  and  gov- 
ernment has  been  merely  the  instrument  they 
employed  to  further  the  interests  of  individuals, 
corporations  and  parties.  Law  has  been  but  a 
wooden  toy  floating  about  on  the  bosom  of  the 
mighty  river  of  progress,  borne  along  and  tossed 
about  by  the  whirlpools  and  the  eddies  of  con- 
flicting human  interests. 

It  seems  strange  how  the  country  could  pros- 
per, in  the  early  years  of  its  history,  with  so 
few  laws.  Laws  are  turned  out  now  in  such 
quantities  that  the  country  is  fairly  overwhelmed 
with  them;  and  if  numbers  of  laws  and  statutes 
could  make  a  people  prosperous  and  happy  this 
should  be  the  greatest  country  on  the  face  of  the 
globe.  The  rush  to  the  Klondike  for  gold  is  not 


140  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

a  greater  manifestation  of  eager  greed  than  is 
the  zeal  of  the  members  of  our  law-making 
bodies  to  have  bills  passed — a  display  of  mis- 
guided patriotism.  The  President  and  the  Gov- 
ernors of  the  various  states  mercifully  spare  the 
country  from  the  infliction  of  numberless  harm- 
ful laws  every  year,  by  the  exercise  of  their  veto 
power  or  by  allowing  bills  to  die  without  their 
sanction. 

Rotaiton  in  offices  of  the  government  are  often 
beneficial  to  the  country,  because  it  brings  new 
men  and  better  methods  to  the  work.  Nearly 
the  same  class  of  men,  having  the  same  party 
affiliations  and  guided  by  the  same  principles, 
have  been  succeeding  one  another  in  the  legis- 
lative bodies  of  the  land  for  the  past  half  cen- 
tury. The  legislation  favored  by  them  and  the 
laws  they  have  passed  have  not  brought  prosper- 
ity to  the  land.  An  entire  change  of  men  and 
principles  might  benefit  the  country. 

All  agree  that  abundance  of  work  for  all  at 
good  wages  would  bring  prosperity  to  the  land. 
Present  parties  and  principles  have  failed  to 
bring  back  prosperous  times.  Party  leaders  or 


LAWS  AND  LAW-MAKING. 

statesmen  do  not  hold  out  any  rational  hope  of 
improvement,  do  not  offer  any  sensible  solution 
of  the  problem. 

Those  in  whose  interests  any  legislation  is  pro- 
posed, should  be  best  qualified  to  determine  what 
elements  would  make  it  most  beneficial  and  ef- 
fective. The  great  mass  of  toilers,  on  the  farms 
and  in  the  shops,  are  the  ones  who  are  most  di- 
rectly interested  in  labor  legislation,  and  they 
should  have  representatives  in  every  law-making 
body.  If  the  prosperity  of  the  toilers,  plenty  of 
work  at  good  wages,  means  the  prosperity  of  the 
entire  country,  then  permanent  prosperity  may 
cometothe  country  through  wise  labor  legislation. 

Any  measure  which  is  within  the  realm  of 
morality  and  justice,  may  become  a  law  in  the 
United  States.  The  Constitution  is  the  funda- 
mental law  of  the  land;  but  even  this  may  be 
interpreted,  modified  or  changed  by  the  supreme 
will  of  the  people.  The  will  of  the  people,  espe- 
cially represented  through  party  principles,  may 
give  a  different  meaning  to  laws;  and  the  court 
interpretations  of  law  will  be  biased  towards  the 
general  desire. 


-L43  rorri-Ai;  I-KOCKKSS. 

The  entire  financial,  industrial  and  commer- 
cial policy  of  the  country  may  be  changed  or 
directed  by  law.  If  the  present  principles  of 
parties  are  not  favorable  to  prosperity,  there 
must  surely  be  brains  enough  in  the  land  to  di- 
rect affairs  into  a  more  healthful  channel.  If 
the  past  class  of  legislators  has  not  been  success- 
ful in  keeping  prosperity  in  the  land  why  not  try 
another?  The  great  mass  of  toilers  has  never 
been  adaquately  represented  in  our  legislatures. 
They  may  not  be  so  well  educated  or  so  intelli- 
gent as  the  party  and  machine  men;  but  they 
should  know  their  own  wants  and  their  interests, 
and  their  interests  are  the  foundation  of  pros- 
perity. It  is  not  absolutely  necessary  that  men 
from  their  ranks  should  be  in  legislative  halls. 
They  might  secure  men  of  ability  and  education 
to  represent  their  interests,  even  though  these 
did  not  belong  to  their  ranks.*  There  are  plenty 
of  honorable  men,  who  have  never  taken  active 
part  in  politics,  who  could  be  induced  to  serve  the 
interests  of  their  country  and  their  fellow  men. 

*Money  foolishly  squandered  in  strikes  would 
be  far  better  employed  in  securing  legislation. 


LAWS  AND  LAW-MA  KIM!. 

Enormous  sums  of  money  are  spent  in  our 
election  campaigns.  Where  does  all  this  money 
come  from?  It  comes  from  individuals  who  are 
looking  for  favors  from  the  government;  it 
comes  from  the  trusts  that  combine,  under  gov- 
ernment protection,  to  uphold  prices,  whilst  they 
starve  their  operatives;  it  comes  from  the  great 
corporations  that  enjoy  franchises  and  privileges 
worth  untold  millions  and  that  are  looking  for 
more.  Corporations  have  an  eye  to  business; 
and  they  do  not  contribute  to  any  political  party 
except  they  have  good  prospect  of  getting  the 
full  value  of  their  money,  in  the  continued  en- 
joyment of  present  privileges,  or  promises  of  fur- 
ther largesses. 

Candidates  for  public  office  are  now  obliged 
by  law  to  make  a  sworn  statement  of  their  elec- 
tion expenses.  Why  could  we  not  go  a  step  fur- 
ther and  make  it  a  misdemeanor  to  contribute  to 
the  campaign  fund  ?  All  the  necessary  and  legi- 
timate election  expenses  are  born  by  the  State; 
the  corruption  fund  comes  from  those  who  in- 
tend to  recover  from  the  coffers  of  the  State. 


CHAPTEE  VHI. 

TAXATION. 

One  of  the  most  important  subjects  that  gov- 
ernment is  called  upon  to  deal  with  is  taxation. 
A  patriotic  people  are  willing  to  contribute 
generously  of  their  earnings  to  the  support  of 
government;  and  in  return  the  civil  authorities 
secure  them  in  the  peaceful  possession  of  pros- 
perity and  the  rational  enjoyment  of  life. 

In  olden  times  rapine  and  war  were  the  means 
selected  to  sustain  the  dignitv  of  the  king  or  de- 
fray the  expenses  of  the  ruling  power.  Feudal- 
ism, estates  of  the  realm,  the  tributes  of  depend- 
ent princes  and  provinces,  were  the  successive 
systems  adopted  to  contribute  towards  govern- 
ment support.  The  present  principles  of  taxing 
all  according  to  the  wealth  and  ability  of  every 
man  is  one  of  the  results  of  the  recognition  of  the 
rights  of  the  individual  and  the  extension  of  the 
right  of  suffrage. 

The  present  system  of  taxing  property,  real 
and  personal,  is  universal  throughout  the 
United  States;  yet  it  is  only  in  recent  years 


TAXATION.  14.5 

that  the  methods  became  nearly  uniform,  and 
even  now  there  is  much  diversity  in  details  and 
in  the  objects  subject  to  taxation.  Real  and 
personal  property  were  selected  as  the  objects 
of  taxation  because  these  were  believed  to  most 
faithfully  represent  the  ability  of  the  individual 
to  contribute  towards  the  support  of  govern- 
ment; but  it  is  very  difficult  to  reach  personal 
property,  and  those  possessing  the  greatest 
amount  are  but  rarely  contributors  to  the  town 
or  state  treasury. 

A  great  amount  of  wealthy  people's  invest- 
ments is  exempt  by  Federal  law  from  State  tax- 
ation; and  much  more  is  so  evanescent  and  il- 
lusory that  it  escapes  the  scrutiny  of  argus-eyed 
assessors.  United  States  bonds  are  exempt  from 
taxation,  and  stocks  of  various  kinds  are  of  such 
intangible  value  and  illusory  nature  that  the 
State  is  never  able  to  trace  their  ownership  or 
derive  any  revenue  from  their  existence. 

Several  states*  have  attempted  to   demand 
tribute  from  this  class  of  property  by  inherit- 
ance tax  laws;  but  the  power  and  influence  of 
*New   York,  Pennsylvania,  etc. 


146  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

wealth  strives  to  illude  these  laws  by  legal  con- 
tention.* Death  reveals  the  hordes  of  wealth 
that  have  been  unscrupulously  hidden  from  the 
State;  and  the  latter  secures  the  peaceful  trans- 
mission of  enormous  sums  to  legal  heirs,  and  is 
rewarded  for  the  intervention  of  its  power  by 
the  refusal  of  this  class  of  wealth  to  pay  its  just 
dues.  Much  of  this  class  of  property  could  not 
subsist,  or  be  safely  transmitted  to  legal  heirs 
without  the  protection  of  the  courts,  which  se- 
cure the  living  in  their  peaceful  possession  and 
give  sanction  and  effect  to  the  will  of  the  dead. 
Greed  overawes  patriotism  and  every  other 
civic  virtue,  and  men  will  only  render  their  just 
tribute  to  government  by  the  strict  enforcement 
of  positive  laws.  Men  who  have  accumulated 
enormous  riches  under  the  fostering  care  of 
national  and  state  laws  absolutely  refuse  to  con- 
tribute to  the  support  of  the  power  which  has 
been  a  necessary  element  in  the  production  of 
their  wealth.  Wealth  brings  power  and  influ- 

*Some  jmlg-es  (Ashway,  Ferguson,  etc.)  have 
declared  inheritance  tax  laws  unconstitutional, 
whilst  others  have  held  that  they  are  valid;  and 
the  question  will  probably  be  referred  to  the  Su- 
preme Court. 


TAXATION. 

ence;  and  rich  men  often  use  these  two  to  shirk 
their  own  responsibility,  and  to  force  the  bur- 
dens of  government  sustenance  upon  the  shoul- 
ders of  the  poor;  yet  the  fundamental  idea  of 
our  tax  is  based  on  the  theory  that  men  should 
contribute  towards  the  support  of  the  govern- 
ment in  proportion  to  their  ability;  yet  most 
reforms  in  the  tax  laws  tend  more  and  more  to 
throw  these  burdens  upon  the  consuming  power 
of  the  land,  and  as  the  poor  form  the  greater 
portion  of  the  consumers,  being  the  more  numer- 
ous, taxes  eventually  fall  upon  their  shoulders. 
One  hundred  years  ago  there  was  very  little 
personal  property  in  the  United  States;  and  a 
tax  upon  realty  constituted  a  very  fair  form  of 
assessment  upon  the  ability  of  individuals  to 
contribute  to  government  support.  The  growth 
of  personal  property  has  kept  pace  with  the 
growth  of  wealth  until,  at  present,  it  has  at- 
tained enormous  proportions  in  the  land.  The 
value  of  personal  property  in  the  most  thickly 
settled  states  is  equal  to  the  real  estate,  yet  the 
greater  portion  of  personal  property  escapes  tax- 
ation. The  IsTew  York  assessors  maintain  that 


148  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

the  personal  property  of  the  state  fully  equals 
in  value  the  real  estate,  yet  it  only  pays  twelve 
per  cent,  of  the  amount  of  taxes.* 

A  tax  on  personal  property  is  correct  and 
apparently  simple  in  principle,  but  it  has  not 
been  found  practicable  in  any  state  or  munici- 
pality.** Personal  property  is  too  intangible, 
too  easily  transferred,  too  illusory,  to  be  a  proper 
object  of  taxation;  but  if  it  could  be  reached  it 
would  constitute  a  very  fair  form  of  taxation. 

Authorities  do  not  agree  on  the  meaning  of 
direct  and  indirect  taxation;  but  a  pretty  clear 
definition  is  that,  direct  taxes  are  those  which 
fall  upon  a  person's  property  and  business;  the 
indirect  taxes  are  those  which  are  placed  upon 
articles,  such  as  food,  clothing,  and  other  ob- 
jects of  commerce.  An  indirect  tax  in  this  sense 
would  seem  to  fall  most  heavily  upon  those  who 
are  least  able  to  bear  the  burden.  The  vast  ma- 
jority of  consumers  of  ordinary  articles  are  the 
poor,  and  the  things  necessary  for  daily  life  and 
comfort  should  be  free  from  taxes,  and  should 

*Report,  1881. 
^"Taxation  in  the  United  States,"  Ely, 


TAXATION.  149 

be  placed,  as  far  as  possible,  within  the  reach  of 
all.* 

It  is  not  a  very  easy  matter  to  devise  a  just 
and  thoroughly  effective  system  of  taxation. 
Some  claim  that  the  power  of  production  con- 
stitutes the  only  theoretically  just  basis  of  taxa- 
tion. Men  are  bound  to  serve  the  State,  they 
say,  in  the  same  degree  in  which  they  have  abil- 
ity to  serve  themselves.  Some**  believe  that, 
in  the  ultimate  analysis,  land  is  the  only  real 
producer;  and,  consequently,  a  tax  upon  land  is 
the  only  equitable  and  comprehensive  method 
of  assessment,  but  in  the  complicated  branches 
of  modern  business  life  there  are  many  sources 
of  wealth  which  do  not  seem  to  have  any  rela- 
tion to  land. 

All  admit  that  men  should  be  taxed  accord- 
ing to  their  wealth,  or  their  ability,  and  the  only 
difficulty  in  practice  is  to  determine  the  amount 
of  each  citizen's  ability.  The  great  food  pro- 
ducing branch  of  industry,  agriculture,  is  taxed; 
not  indeed  as  a  producing  power,  but  as  real  es- 

*Walker. 
**Henry  George. 


150  POP0LAK  PROGRESS. 

tate.  Other  forms  of  production,  such  as  manu- 
factures, are  not  taxed  except  they  are  holders 
or  renters  of  realty;  and  they  are  even  granted 
immunities  and  privileges  as  fostering  elements 
of  prosperity.  Why  should  these  forms  of  pro- 
ducing power  be  exempt  from  taxation,  unless, 
indeed,  it  is  claimed  for  them  that  they  are 
necessary  for  the  public  weal  ?  If,  however,  they 
are  not  only  not  necessary  for  the  public  \vf>al, 
but  are  actually,  under  present  methods,  tLo 
cause  of  industrial  depression,  who  will  say  that 
they  should  not  be  adequately,  and  even  heavily, 
taxed? 

Every  branch  of  productive  industry  in  which 
labor-saving  machinery  has  been  introduced  suf- 
fers from  the  ill  effects  of  overproduction.  Over- 
production is  at  the  bottom  of  every  industrial 
depression.  The  aim  of  the  producers  has  been 
to  lessen  the  cost  and  to  increase  the  products; 
and  the  inventive  genius  of  the  country  has 
turned  out  four  or  five  thousand  improved  ma- 
chines each  year  to  accomplish  these  results. 
The  inevitable  results  followed:  labor  was  dis- 
placed; the  consuming  power  was  lessened;  the 


TAXATION. 

market  was  glutted;  the  hum  of  industry  was 
stilled  because  there  was  no  demand;  the  toiler 
could  not  buy,  because  he  had  no  work;  stagna- 
tion and  gloom  settled  on  the  land.  These  are 
not  the  creations  of  disordered  imaginations,  the 
ravings  of  an  anarchist,  nor  the  dark  forboding 
of  a  pessimist,  but  they  are  cold  facts  taken  from 
observation  and  from  the  industrial  history  of 
the  world,  and  which  anyone  may  verify  by 
opening  his  eyes  to  the  light  and  by  observing 
the  phenomena  everywhere  patent. 

Tariff  tinkering  and  finance  juggling  will 
never  remedy  the  ills  of  industry.  These  have 
about  as  much  influence  on  the  prosperity  of  the 
country  as  the  tricks  of  a  thimble  rigger  at  a 
county  fair  have  on  agriculture.  The  laws  of 
supply  and  demand  govern  industry,  and  when 
these  are  in  a  healthful  condition  prosperity  will 
smile  upon  the  land  without  any  favors  from  na- 
tion or  state.  The  government  can  assist  by 
regulating  supply  and  demand,  and  by  reducing 
them,  when  either  is  in  extraordinary  excess,  to 
healthful  conditions.  This  is  the  proper  province 
of  Government,  and  it  is  what  the  United  States 


152  I'OI'l'LAR  PROGRESS. 

practically  attempts  to  do  by  its  system  of  tariff 
for  the  protection  of  homo  industries;  but  this 
can  never  bring  prosperity  because  it  is  foster- 
ing the  very  evil  it  is  intended  to  suppress. 

In  nearly  every  branch  of  manufacture  and 
production  the  products  are  far  in  excess  of 
home  consumption ;  and  our  merchants  and  man- 
ufacturers are  looking  for  markets  in  South 
America,  in  Europe,  and  in  Asia,  for  their  sur- 
plus goods.  Conservative  men  estimate  that 
enough  goods  can  be  produced  in  three  months, 
with  present  methods,  to  supply  the  home  mar- 
ket for  one  year.  Under  old  methods  of  hand 
work,  it  would  require,  according  to  one  of  our 
most  competent  authorities,*  from  fifty  to  one 
hundred  million  of  workers  to  produce  the 
amount  of  goods  that  may  be  manufactured  by 
the  present  facilities  of  labor-saving  machinery, 
with  the  present  working  force  of  eight  or  nine 
millions. 

The  present  system**  of  taxation  is  compara- 

*Carroll  D.  Wright,   head    of    the   Government 
Bureau   of   Labor. 

**Ely,  "Taxation  in  American  States." 


TAXATION.  153 

lively  new,  dating  back  no  farther  than  the  time 
of  the  Civil  War,  and  even  at  the  present  time 
there  is  great  diversity  of  methods  of  taxation  in 
the  different  states  and  cities.  Pennsylvania 
levies  a  tax  on  foreign  insurance  companies,  on 
bankers  and  brokers,  on  saving  institutions  and 
express  companies.  All  cities  grant  licenses, 
which  are  but  certificates  of  taxes  paid  on  the 
particular  business  for  which  they  are  issued. 
Charleston,  S.  C.,  taxes  fifty-six  different  kinds 
of  business.  Before  the  Civil  ~\Yar  there  was  a 
poll  tax,  and  individuals  were  also  taxed  accord- 
ing to  their  earning  capacity. 

Tn  1895  a  bill  was  passed  by  the  United 
States  Congress  which  proposed  to  levy  a  tax 
upon  the  incomes  of  individuals.  It  was  in- 
tended to  assess  individuals  according  to 
their  ability;  in  proportion  as  they  were  able 
to  serve  themselves,  so  would  they  be  required 
to  serve  the  government.  A  limit  was  placed 
on  this  tax,  so  that  its  burden  would  not  fall 
upon  the  poor,  or  those  least  able  to  bear  it. 
Interested  parties  had  the  bill  placed  immedi- 
ately on  the  calendar  of  the  United  States  Su- 


154  POPULAR  PROGRESS, 

preme  Court  where  it  was  declared  unconsti- 
tutional. No  event  of  recent  years  has  dealt 
such  a  heavy  blow  at  the  patriotism  of  America's 
loyal  subjects  as  this  decision  of  her  highest  tri- 
bunal of  justice.  People  were  wont  to  look 
with  pride  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  because  they  believed  it  was  far  removed 
from  the  corrupting  influences  of  power  and 
wealth;*  but  the  decision  has  led  them  to  be- 
lieve that  their  idol  has  feet  of  common  clay. 

The  tax  on  imported  goods  as  a  measure  of 
government  support  is  another  evidence  of  the 
injustice  of  the  method  which  places  all  the  bur- 
den upon  the  poor.  It  was  intended  as  a  protec- 
tion to  home  industries,  by  practically  exclud- 
ing many  foreign  goods  from  competing  with 
our  home  products.  This  should  protect  home 
manufacturers  in  their  business,  and  give  steady 
employment  to  men.  This  seems  specious 
enough  in  theory,  but  in  practice  it  throws  the 
whole  tax  upon  the  poor  and  increases  the  earn- 

*Senator  Vest  said,  the  decision  shows  the  pow- 
er of  money  and  monopoly.  Justice  Harlan  was 
very  much  opposed  to  the  decision,  and  strong-ly 
favored  the  minority  opinion. 


TAXATION. 

ings  of  the  home  producers.  Senator  Butler's 
arraignment  of  its  injustice  is  very  near  the 
truth.  "The  tariff  imposes  its  burden  upon 
the  ninety-eight  per  cent,  of  poor  people  who  are 
least  able  to  bear  it,  whilst  it  benefits  the  two 
per  cent,  of  those  who  do  not  need  assistance."* 
Protective  tariff  laws  may  give  a  fitful  boom 
to  home  industries  by  increasing  the  prospective 
profits  of  home  products,  but  this  revival  is 
founded  on  the  supposition  that  our  home  mar- 
ket is  now  invaded  by  foreign  cheap  goods.  The 
truth  is  that  American  cheap  goods  are  now 
flooding  all  the  accessible  markets  of  the  world; 
and  new  labor-saving  methods  are  being  con- 
stantly introduced  to  enable  our  manufacturers 
to  increase  their  products  without  adding  to  the 
number  of  their  employees.  If  the  object  of 
the  tariff  laws  was  to  create  a  greater  demand 
for  labor,  the  promoters  exerted  their  zeal  in 
the  wrong  direction.  To  cure  an  ill  you  munt 
remove  the  cause;  and  the  cause  of  the  impo- 
tent demand  for  labor  is  the  enormous  displace- 
ment of  the  same  by  labor-saving  machinery. 
*Speech  in  U.  S.  Senate. 


156  POPULAR  PROGEESS. 

A  little  over  a  century  ago  a  new  school  of 
political  economy  flourished  in  France,  whose 
principal  tenet  was,  that  agriculture  is  the  only 
productive  industry.  Vast  estates  then  monop- 
olized the  land,  excluded  men  from  the  use  of 
the  soil,  which  was  the  principal  means  of  earn- 
ing a  livelihood  there,  and  brought  poverty  and 
suffering  upon  the  toiling  masses.  To  correct 
this  evil  the  French  Economists  proposed  to 
abolish  all  tax  except  that  upon  land. 

The  revolution  came  and  upset  theories  and 
schools;  overturned  dynasties;  and  abolished 
the  class  that  absorbed  the  means  of  living. 
Men  would  not  listen  to  reason;  they  were 
obliged  to  yield  to  force.  Napoleon  compelled 
the  large  land  owners  to  place  their  large  estates 
upon  the  market.  They  were  divided  up  into 
millions  of  small  farms,  and  France  became  one 
of  the  most  prosperous  and  contented  countries 
in  the  world. 

The  single  tax  theory  has  been  revived*  in  the 
United  States  of  late  years,  and  many  look  upon 
it  as  a  remedy  for  existing  ills.  The  evil,  how- 
*  This  is  the  theory  of  Henry  George. 


TAXATION.  157 

ever,  in  the  United  States  is  not  agrarian;  it  is 
industrial.  One  hundred  years  ago  agriculture 
might  have  been  reasonably  looked  upon  as  the 
only  productive  industry;  but  modern  condi- 
tions have  made  possible  numberless  methods  of 
combinations  and  change,  and  the  finished  pro- 
ducts of  the  past  century  are  only  the  crude  ma- 
terials of  today.  Hundreds  of  forms  of  wealth 
and  methods  of  attaining  wealth  are  in  exist- 
ence today  that  were  unknown  a  century  ago, 
and  the  single  tax  is  too  limited  for  the  compli- 
cations of  modern  business.  Our  ordinary  land- 
owning farmer  is  the  poorest  paid  toiler,  whilst 
our  men  of  greatest  wealth  and  greatest  ability 
of  producing  wealth  may  possess  but  little  land. 
There  is  no  monopoly  of  land  in  the  United 
States.  Farms  may  be  purchased,  even  in  the 
Empire  State,  almost  for  a  song.  Land  grab- 
bing in  cities  and  suburbs,  where  there  is  prom- 
ise of  enormous  "unearned  increments,"*  is,  as  a 
rule,  carefully  watched  and  assessed  according 

*The  principle  of  "unearned  increment"  en- 
ters into  every  branch  of  business  that  is  depend- 
ant upon  a  valuable  market.  The  merchant  or 
broker  buys  larger  quantities  of  goods — sugar, 


158  POPULAR  PROGEESS. 

to  value;  and  this  form  of  speculation  is,  in  any 
case,  exposed  to  great  risks,  and  is  liable  to  bring 
disaster  as  well  as  wealth.  Credit  should  be 
given  to  good  judgment  in  this  as  well  as  in 
every  other  form  of  business  enterprise. 

Although  there  is  no  monopoly  of  land  in  this 
country  there  is  just  as  baneful  a  monopoly,  a 
monopoly  of  the  methods  of  production;  ma- 
chines are  monopolizing  the  work  of  men.  The 
single  tax  theory  was  founded  on  the  principle 
that  ability  to  produce  should  be  the  measure  of 
taxation.  There  is  no  valid  reason  why  this 
principle  should  be  applied  to  agriculture  alone; 
for  land  merely  produces  the  crude  material,  in 
many  branches  of  modern  industry,  and  it  de- 
rives the  lowest  percentage  of  profit  from  the 
finished  products  of  all  those  through  whose 
hands  it  passes  in  its  progress  towards  comple- 
tion. If  ability  to  produce  is  the  true  basis  of 
taxation,  as  many  believe,  the  principle  should 

tea,  cloth,  oil  or  stocks;  the  price  for  reasons  over 
which  he  has  no  control,  rises,  and  he  reaps  the 
profits  of  the  "unearned  increment."  Henry  George 
himself  profited  by  "unearned  increment."  Hia 
writings — his  books,  his  paper,  had  a  money  value 
which  was  given  to  them  by  the  reading  public. 


TAXATION.  159 

be  applied  to  all  stages  in  the  process  of  comple- 
tion which  add  value  to  the  product.  Not  only 
the  farmer  should  be  taxed  who  raises  the  flax, 
the  sheep  for  wool,  cotton  or  the  cocoon  as  raw 
materials,  but  also  the  manufacturers  who  con- 
vert these  into  valuable  materials  for  clothing; 
and  these  should  be  taxed  according  to  their 
ability  to  produce  with  labor-saving  machinery 
in  proportion  to  their  displacement  of  hand 
labor,  because  in  the  same  proportion  they  have 
absorbed  the  means  from  which  the  laboring 
classes  derive  the  power  to  contribute  towards 
government  support. 

There  is  a  tendency,  especially  in  the  smaller 
towns,  to  donate  lands  as  sites  for  manufactor- 
ies, and  to  offer  other  inducements  to  manufac- 
turers to  locate  and  build,  on  the  supposition 
that  their  presence  would  add  to  the  prosperity 
of  the  place  by  giving  employment  to  idle 
hands.  Men  have  a  general  idea  that  increas- 
ing the  demand  for  labor  will  add  to  prosperity; 
then  why  not  abolish  by  taxation  the  use  of  la- 
bor-saving machinery,  which  is  the  direct  cause 
of  the  enormous  displacement  of  labor?  Grant- 


160  POPULAR  PROGRESS, 

ing  privileges  to  manufactories  is  only  fostering 
the  very  evil  which  should  be  eradicated,  and 
which  is  causing  the  "hard  times"  and  scarcity 
of  work. 

The  existence  of  manufactories  using  labor- 
saving  machinery  is  unfavorable  to  the  growth 
of  small  towns.  The  division  of  labor,  propin- 
quity to  large  markets,  and  facility  of  secur- 
ing desirable  employees,  favorably  incline  the 
manufacturers  towards  the  large  cities.  Before 
the  advent  of  the  modern  factory  every  town 
kept  busy  its  own  shoemakers  and  tailors,  but 
now  these  are  supplanted  by  the  ready-to-wear 
clothes  and  the  machine-made  shoes.  Fifteen 
or  twenty  years  ago  there  were  many  prosperous 
little  towns  in  Kansas  and  throughout  other 
states  of  the  Central  West;  but  today  they  are 
only  represented  by  the  deserted  brick  block  or 
the  deserted  school;  they  have  been  effaced 
from  the  earth;  machines,  like  the  plague  lo- 
custs, nipped  them  in  the  bud. 

There  is  a  general  impression  that  under  our 
present  system  of  taxation,  property  owners 
alone  pay  taxes,  and  the  "taxpayer"  claims  the 


TAXATION. 

right  to  be  heard  on  all  questions  where  the  ex- 
penditure of  public  money  is  involved.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  however,  the  property  owner 
manages  to  make  others  pay  his  taxes;  and  in  its 
last  analysis  the  whole  burden  of  taxation  falls 
upon  the  non-property  owning  consumer.  If 
taxes  are  increased,  the  landlord  will  raise  the 
rent  of  the  poor  man's  dwelling  in  the  same 
ratio;  if  it  is  business  property,  the  price  of 
goods  will  be  raised  to  meet  the  increased  taxa- 
tion. The  consumer  pays  a  few  cents  more 
for  his  tea,  and  his  coffee,  or  his  sugar;  a  few 
shillings  more  for  his  household  goods,  his 
household  clothes  or  his  shoes;  and  this  added 
cost  goes  to  pay  the  merchants,  or  the  land- 
lord's increased  taxation. 

The  landlord  calculates  to  get  ten  per  cent, 
gross  on  his  capital  invested  in  rentable  realty; 
so  that  he  may  pay  his  taxes  and  insurance  and 
a  little  for  repairs,  and  then  realize  six  per  cent, 
net  from  his  investment.  The  merchant  calcu- 
lates his  expenses,  his  employee's  wages,  hia 
rent  or  his  taxes,  his  heating  and  lighting  ex- 
pense, his  advertising,  his  insurance,  and  he 


162  POPULAE  PEOGEESS. 

adds  all  these  to  the  cost  of  his  goods;  and  then 
he  will  add  his  own  prospective  profit,  and  thus 
he  makes  up  the  selling  price  of  his  goods.  In 
each  case  the  consumer  pays  the  taxes,  and  the 
great  mass  of  consumers  are  the  poor  workers 
who  own  no  real  estate  or  visible  taxable  prop- 
erty. 

No  one  believes  that  it  is  just  right  to  saddle 
the  burden  of  government  support  upon  the 
backs  of  the  poor;  yet  the  tendency  of  recent 
legislation  and  of  official  and  business  methods 
has  been  in  this  direction. 

There  is  a  widespread  and  growing  belief 
that  present  systems  of  taxation  are  unjust,  and 
do  not  place  the  burdens  upon  those  who  are 
best  able  to  bear  them,  and  where  they  proper- 
ly belong.  Reforms  in  tax  laws  are  proposed 
in  various  legislatures;  the  objects  which  should 
pay  tribute  to  government  form  the  sub- 
ject of  discussion;  and  in  the  final  settlement  of 
this  question  the  great  mass  of  consumers,  who, 
under  the  present  system  pay  the  heaviest  pro- 
portionate taxes,  should  have  a  prominent  part. 
If  the  matter  is  left  to  the  great  parties,  profes- 


TAXATION.  1C  3 

sional  politicians,  and  law  makers  to  decide, 
they  will  favor  the  great  corporations  and  the 
trusts  that  can  contribute  abundantly  to  party 
support. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

EEMEDIES. 

In  all  the  great  manufacturing  countries  of 
the  world  there  have  been  recurrent  periods  of 
financial  and  industrial  depression;  whilst  an 
even  tenor  of  stability,  disturbed  only  by  crop 
failures,  outside  of  the  United  States,  has  been 
the  fortune  of  agricultural  lands.  Agricul- 
ture has  also  suffered  periods  of  depression;  but 
it  has  been  through  the  seemingly  absurd  para- 
dox of  over  abundance.  When  the  markets  are 
over  supplied  with  food  products  or  manufac- 
tured goods  prices  must  fall;  and  the  slump  af- 
fects not  only  the  owner  of  products,  but  also 
all  those  engaged  in  their  production. 

In  the  United  States,  in  England,  in  Ger- 
many, in  France,  and  in  some  of  the  other  na- 
tions of  Europe  there  have  been  periods  of 
financial  flurry  and  panics,  often  accompanied 
or  followed  by  industrial  depressions;  but  in 
most  cases  these  are  of  slight  duration,  and 
have  not  silenced  the  hum  of  industry  or  check- 
ed the  prosperity  of  the  land.  These  panics 


REMEDIES. 

are  caused  either  by  excessive  speculation  in 
finances  or  over-production  in  industry;  and 
wlien  they  are  caused  by  the  former  the  sober 
senses  of  men  will  soon  adjust  affairs  to  health- 
ful conditions;  but  when  they  are  caused  by 
the  latter  then  men  must  patiently  wait  until 
the  consuming  power  of  the  world  has  exhaust- 
ed the  supply  and  makes  a  new  demand. 

Statesmen,  political  economists,  ordinary 
politicians,  and  merchants,  like  learned  physi- 
cians, have  examined  all  the  inductive  condi- 
tions and  present  symptoms,  have  made  a  scien- 
tific diagnosis,  have  prescribed  a  compound  of 
new-made  tariff  for  the  nerves,  a  proper  propor- 
tion of  gold  and  silver  solution  to  strengthen 
the  spine,  and  have  issued  their  wise  prognosis 
for  the  comfort  of  the  patient's  friends;  yet  the 
sick  still  languish;  the  learned  men  have  been 
misled  by  symptoms. 

The  money  question  is  the  most  absurd  and 
ridiculous  issue  that  has  ever  been  presented  to 
the  American  people  at  a  presidential  election. 
Financial  flurries  are  generally  only  symptoms 
of  industrial  distress.  As  well  hope  to  cure 


166  POPULAK  PEOGRESS. 

epilepsy  by  assisting  a  fellow  victim  to  his  feet 
as  to  expect  to  remedy  industrial  depression  by 
financial  legislation.  Give  men  work  at  fair 
wages  and  every  financial  difficulty  will  soon 
disappear.  There  is  no  question  about  what 
kind  of  money  we  shall  use;  but  the  vital  ques- 
tion is,  whether  the  great  mass  of  workers  shall 
have  an  opportunity  of  earning  any  kind  of 
money.  The  kind  of  money  we  shall  use  has 
about  as  much  bearing  upon  the  prosperity  of 
the  country  as  has  the  social  question,  whether 
bicycle  women  shall  wear  bloomers.  The  great 
leaders  of  either  party  have  eloquently  ex- 
pounded the  value  of  their  nostrums,  but  their 
effusions  seem  like  mere  chaff  blown  from  the 
political  machines  to  hoodwink  the  people. 

If  men  are  once  firmly  convinced  of  the  true 
causes  of  "hard  times,"  or  industrial  depression, 
there  are  surely  patriotism  and  humanity 
enough  in  America  to  arouse  them  to  the  ne- 
cessity of  providing  a  remedy.  Men,  however, 
are  not  easily  influenced  by  considerations  of 
patriotism  or  humanity  when  these  clash  with 
their  monetary  interests;  and  the  great  trusts 


EEMEDIES.  107 

and  monopolies  would  no  doubt  throw  the 
weight  of  their  power  and  wealth  against  any 
proposition  which  would  tend  to  weaken  their 
influence  or  lessen  their  gains.  Unequivocal 
laws  strictly  enforced  that  might  be  intro- 
duced for  the  public  good  will  do  more  to  in- 
duce these  corporations  to  submit  to  new,  and 
perhaps  unfavorable  conditions  than  any 
thought  of  country  or  their  fellow  men. 

The  great  corporations  and  trusts  have  been 
able,  for  many  years,  to  control  legislation  in 
nearly  all  the  law-making  bodies  in  the  United 
States.  They  soon  learned  that  the  road  to 
wealth  led  through  legislative  halls  rather  than 
through  business  marts,  and  their  immense 
power  and  money  were  directed  towards  secur- 
ing immunities,  privileges,  laws  and  franchises 
that  were  worth  untold  millions  to  them. 

These  were  generally  free  gifts  secured 
through  bribery,  encroachment  upon  the  pub- 
lic domain  or  were  valuable  franchises  secured 
without  adequate  compensation  The  people 
virtually  own  the  streets  of  towns,  the  high- 
ways of  the  country,  and  all  public  property; 


168  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

and  legislative-governing  bodies  are  mere  guar- 
dians of  the  peoples'  rights  and  property.  The 
law-making  bodies*  of  the  United  States  have 
been  infamously  corrupt  for  some  years,  and 
have  bartered  away  the  peoples'  birthright  for  a 
mess  of  potage. 

The  great  glory  of  this  country  is  that  it  is  a 
government  of  the  people,  for  the  people,  and 
by  the  people.  This  is  true  in  theory,  but  in 
fact  the  great  glory  of  the  land  has  long  since 
departed,  and  for  years  it  has  been,  a  govern- 
ment of  the  great  corporations  and  trusts  by 
the  politicians,  for  gain.  The  power  of  gov- 
erning still  resides  in  the  people,  but  it  lies 
dormant,  and  it  has  been  usurped  by  parties  or- 
ganized for  plunder.  Much  good  for  the  per- 
manent prosperity  of  the  country  can  be  effect- 
ed by  the  people  resuming  their  original  rights. 
How  can  this  be  done  ? 

Each  of  the  great  political  parties  is  equally 

immersed  in  corruption  and  exists    principally 

for  spoil ;  and  even  if  a  new  party  were  formed 

it  would  soon  fall  a  victim  to  the  wiles  of  Mam- 

"See   Chapter  VII. 


EEMEDIES.  1(59 

mon.  The  great  mass  of  the  people  are  too 
busy  earning  a  living  and  attending  to  business 
affairs  to  give  any  time  or  thought  to  practical 
politics.  This  gives  a  clear  field  to  the  politi- 
cians, who  have  only  to  struggle  among  them- 
selves for  the  offices  and  the  spoils.*  There  is 
practically  no  check  on  the  corruption  in  poli- 
tics, or  on  the  abuse  of  legislative  power.  A 
strong,  efficient,  yet  simple  means  of  removing 
corrupt  politicians  from  office  and  which  could 
brand  them  with  infamy  would  effect  much 
good  for  the  country,  and  could  also  by  legisla- 
tion correct  many  of  the  evils  in  the  industrial 
world. 

All  through  the  country  workmen  are  united 
in  unions  for  the  protection  and  promotion  of 
their  interests.  They  have  been  fairly  success- 
ful in  maintaining  wages  in  some  branches, 
whilst  in  others  they  have  failed.  They  may 
strike;  but  as  long  as  the  supply  of  labor, 

*These  spoils  are  enormous.  "As  things  are 
now,"  said  ex-Gov.  Altgeld  in  his  Labor  Day  speech, 
"the  people  have  to  bear  the  burden  of  corruption 
among  officials,  have  to  fatten  a  lot  of  politicians 
and  have  to  fill  the  coffers  of  insatiable  corpora- 
tions besides." 


170  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

skilled  in  the  strikers'  trade,  is  greatly  in  o 
of  the  demand  the  struggle  will  be  unequal,and 
they  will  surely  lose.  If  the  demand  for  labor 
can  be  increased  to  such  an  extent  that  it  will 
exceed  the  supply,  then  there  will  be  no  need 
for  a  strike,  because  it  will  be  to  the  employers' 
interests  to  comply  with  the  employees  de- 
mands ;  or  if  there  is  need  for  a  strike  they  may 
hope  for  success.  This  may  sound  simple 
enough,  in  fact  it  seems  self-evident,  but  how 
can  the  change  be  effected? 

Labor  has  been  losing  ground,  because  it  has 
not  been  guided  by  intelligence.  It  has  been 
like  a  great  powerful  animal,  bellowing  in  rage 
at  its  captivity  and  its  captors,  whilst  it  is  being 
shackled  by  a  tiny  mite  of  physical  power  en- 
dowed with  reason.  In  all  the  progress  of  the 
present  century  labor  has  not  profited  in  any 
perceptible  measure,  simply  because  it  has  not 
known  how  to  take  advantage  of  the  opportuni- 
ties offered.  They  toil  today  in  the  fields  and 
in  the  shops  much  as  they  did  one  hundred 
years  ago.  They  have  machines,  'tis  true,  to 
co-operate  with  them,  but  these  machine?  are 


REMEDIES. 

not  intended  to  take  the  burden  of  toil  from 
their  shoulders,  they  even  add  to  it  by  substi- 
tuting insufferable  sameness  for  pleasing  va- 
riety. The  principal  and  about  the  only  pur- 
pose of  the  use  of  machinery  is  to  lessen  the 
cost  of  production  and  manufacture  and  to 
make  the  rich  richer.  The  condition  of  labor 
has  not  improved  with  the  manifold  wonderful 
invention  of  the  present  century;  it  has  not  kept 
pace  with  progress. 

The  policy  of  redressing  their  grievances,  or 
of  improving  their  condition  by  strikes  is  be- 
coming more  hopeless  every  day.  Men  leave 
their  work  and  go  on  strike  on  the  principle 
that  employers  will  pay  higher  wages  sooner 
than  allow  their  works  to  remain  idle;  but  in 
most  cases,  other  workers  may  be  easily  secured 
to  take  the  strikers'  places,  and  as  long  as  this 
condition  prevails  strikes  will  prove  failures. 

Strikes  were  all  right  enough  in  the  past  cen- 
tury, or  even  thirty  or  forty  years  ago  before 
labor-saving  machinery  was  so  extensively 
used;  but  now  if  men  of  flesh  and  blood  cannot 
be  found  to  take  the  strikers'  places,  Yankee 


172  POPULAR  PROGRESS, 

genius  will  invent  some  of  steel  that  will  do  the 
work  as  well:*  Workmen  are  honorable,  ami 
they  would  not,  unless  forced  by  necessity,  de- 
sire to  take  the  place  of  their  fellow  workers  on 
strike;  but  self-preservation  and  the  wants  of 
wife  and  children  appeal  to  them  more  strongly 
than  do  the  superficial  ties  of  professional  eti- 
quette. The  law  will  protect  men  in  the  en- 
joyment of  their  right  to  labor  without  interfer- 
ence, wherever  they  choose  to  sell  their  ser- 
vices; and  riot  and  failure  only  can  follow  from 
this  antiquated  form  of  redress.  The  only  hope 
of  the  great  mass  of  toilers  lies  in  an  increased 
demand  for  labor.  Can  they  increase  the  de- 
mand? They  can. 

Politicians  of  every  party,  statesmen  of  every 
rank,  and  all  who  have  eyes  to  see  and  ears  to 
hear,  agree  that  prosperity  primarily  and  prin- 
cipally consists  in  abundance  of  work  at  good 
wages  for  all. 

The  preceding  chapters  have  shown  how  the 
introduction  and  use  of  labor-saving  machinery 

*The  Secretary  of  the  Federation  of  Employers 
says:  "Machinery  is  the  answer  of  employers  to 
strikes." 


EEMEDIES. 

has  been  displacing  labor,  year  by  year,  at  an 
alarming  rate,  and  has  been  lessening  the  de- 
mand in  every  branch  of  manufacture  and  pro- 
duction. Labor-saving  machinery  has  not  ben- 
efited the  workmen;  it  is  no  benefit  to  the 
country.  It  has  wrought  min  to  the  small 
towns,  and  has  driven  the  toilers  to  the  great 
centers  of  population.  Its  use  has  benefited 
individual  employers,  but  individual  interest 
must  yield  to  public  good  It  has  been  fos- 
tered by  legislation;  by  legislation  it  can  be 
curtailed. 

Organized  labor  can  wield  immense  power, 
and  the  vast  number  of  toilers  guided  by  intel- 
ligence can  determine  the  destiny  of  this  land. 
They  can  make  prosperity  their  hand-maiden, 
and  she  will  come  smiling  at  their  call. 

It  would  be  a  sad  day  for  labor  and  for  the 
country  when  organized  labor  should  become  a 
political  party,  in  the  sense  conveyed  by  the 
word  today;  but  the  great  common  people  can 
gain  control  of,  or  at  least  secure  the  balance  of 
power  in  all  the  legislative  bodies  of  the  coun- 
try. Representatives  need  not  necessarily  be 


174  POPULAE  PROGRESS. 

from  the  ranks  of  labor,  but  they  must  be  se- 
lected by  labor  and  must,  if  possible,  be  in  the 
employ  of  labor. 

It  is  not  merely  a  question  of  labor  that  con- 
fronts the  land  today,  it  is  a  question  of  pros- 
perity, a  question  of  the  permanency  of  the 
government  itself;  and  the  patriotism  of  the 
country  will  rally  to  the  aid  of  the  standard 
bearers  of  justice  and  honor  when  called  upon 
to  rescue  this  free  Republic  from  the  clutch 
of  death.  The  millions  of  toilers  can  vastly 
improve  their  own  condition,  and  can  confer 
immense  benefits  upon  the  country  if  they  only 
awaken  to  the  gravity  of  the  situation  and  grasp 
the  opportunity  that  lies  within  their  reach. 

Labor-saving  machinery  is  the  great  rival  of 
labor;  and  the  first  aim  of  labor's  representa- 
tives should  be  to  tax  its  employment  and 
to  curtail  its  use.  They  can  begin  with  the 
prisons  and  penal  institutions  which  are  directly 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  State,  and  abolish 
in  these  completely  the  use  of  all  labor-saving 
machinery.  The  proper  field  for  the  employ- 
ment of  prison  labor  is  in  improving  the 


KKMKDIES.  175 

highways;  but  if  they  must  be  employed  in 
manufacture  within  prison  walls,  let  them  per- 
form the  work  by  hand.  They  will  not  make  so 
much  money  for  the  politicians  by  this  method; 
but  they  will  also  not  do  so  much  harm  to  honest 
labor.  There  is  no  need  whatsoever  for  the  use 
of  labor-saving  machinery  within  prison  walls. 

Representatives  of  labor  on  city  and  town 
councils  could  insist  on  the  exclusion  of  labor- 
saving  machinery  on  works  which  are  under 
the  immediate  supervision  of  cities  or  towns, 
such  as  work  on  streets  and  parks.  This  method 
might  cost  a  little  more,  but  it  would  give  work 
to  a  greater  number  of  men,  and  it  might  be 
more  economical  in  the  end  because  it  would  be 
the  means  of  keeping  many  a  family  off  the 
books  of  the  poor  department. 

These  are  perhaps  matters  of  small  moment, 
but  they  would  aid  perceptibly  in  increasing 
the  demand  for  labor.  It  is  useless  to  hope  for 
reform  in  these  matters  from  either  of  the  great 
political  parties,  because  all  the  faithful  hench- 
men of  either  one  will  always  place  party  policy 
above  the  public  welfare. 


176  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

If  prosperity  is  ever  again  to  gladden  the 
homes  and  the  hearts  of  the  millions  of  toilers 
of  this  land  it  must  come  through  the  abolition 
of  labor-saving  machinery,  or  at  least  such  a  re- 
striction in  its  use  in  manufacture  and  produc- 
tion that  there  may  be  employment  for  all.  The 
country  now  produces  more  than  it  can  con- 
sume, and  prosperity  cannot  surely  come  by  pro- 
ducing more,  because  they  cannot  find  a  market 
for  their  present  products.  Even  those  who  be- 
lieve that  labor-saving  machinery  is  the  natural 
concomitant  of  enlightened  nineteenth  century 
civilization,  admit*  that  it  would  require  from 
fifty  to  one  hundred  million  workers,  by  old 
methods,  to  produce  the  same  amount  that  is 
now  turned  out  by  the  present  economic  system; 
and  yet  hundreds  of  thousands  of  willing  workers 
are  now  idle  and  cannot  find  employment. 

It  is  idle  folly  to  think  that  a  change  in  the 
currency  or  in  the  tariff  can  bring  permanent  or 
even  prolonged  prosperity.  The  law  of  supply 
and  demand  governs  production,  and  no  change 
in  the  currency  or  the  tariff  can  induce  manu- 
,  "Carroll  D.  Wright. 


KEMEDIES. 

facturers  and  producers  to  turn  out  more  pro- 
ducts than  they  can  find  a  market  for,  other- 
wise overproduction  and  consequent  stagnation 
must  necessarily  follow. 

Some  Political  Economists*  claim  that  the 
whole  progress  of  civilization  consists  in  accom- 
plishing greater  or  better  results  with  the  same 
or  lesser  effort.  Labor-saving  machinery  ac- 
cording to  this  theory,  should  be  the  surest  and 
about  the  only  sign  of  progress  in  civilization; 
and  as  the  United  States  leads  the  world  in 
labor-saving  inventions  it  must  lead  the  van  of 
civilized  nations.  The  displacement  of  labor 
seems  to  be  of  no  account  in.  this  calculation ;  the 
toilers  must  keep  up  with  the  procession  or  drop 
by  the  wayside  and  die. 

Men  are  endowed  with  unalienable  rights  to 
life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness;  and 
governments  are  instituted  to  secure  these 
rights.**  It  is  the  duty  of  government,  in  or- 
der to  preserve  liberty,  to  protect  every  member 
of  the  society  from  the  injustice  or  oppression  of 

*  "Kecent  Economic  Changes,"  Wells. 
**Declaration  of  Independence. 


178  I'OI'ULAB  PROGRESS. 

every  other  member  of  it.*  It  is  also  the  duty 
of  government,  as  far  as  lies  in  its  power,  to 
provide  the  means  of  happiness  for  all  its  sub- 
jects. The  economic  theories  of  the  prevent 
day,  which  advocate  the  use  of  labor-saving  ma- 
chinery as  a  necessary  element  of  progress  and 
civilization,  and  which  seem  to  be  accepted  as 
true  by  our  statesmen  and  officials,  are  in  direct 
opposition  to  the  above  principles.  If  millions 
must  suffer  want  and  thousands  starve  that  a  few 
hundred  or  a  few  thousand  may  prosper,  then 
government  is  failing  in  its  purpose  and  this  fin 
de  siecle  civilization  is  lapsing  into  barbarism. 
In  what  does  our  civilization  differ  from  the  civ- 
ilization of  ancient  Home  or  Greece?  They  cul- 
tivated the  fine  arts.  Their  sculpture,  their 
architecture,  and  their  literature,  are  still  the 
models  of  the  world.  Slavery  existed  then,  and 
the  Roman  had  no  regard  for  the  rights  or  life 
of  any  one  who  was  not  a  citizen. 

The  present  generation  witnessed  the    aboli- 
tion of  slavery  here  after  a  long  civil  war  that 
cost  hundreds  of  thousands  of  lives,  but  there  is 
*Adam    Smith. 


REMEDIES. 

a  growing  disposition  to  disregard  the  equality 
of  rights  in  regard  to  the  toilers. 

Might,  at  least  in  fact,  is  right,  and  if  the  toilers 
wish  to  preserve  their  right  to  life,  liberty  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness,  they  must  first  at- 
tain power,  then  the  world  will  give  heed  to 
their  cause.  The  right  to  life  includes  the  right 
to  the  means  of  preserving  life,  and  the  right  to 
the  pursuit  of  happiness  includes  the  right  to  the 
means  of  procuring  happiness,  without  any  un- 
just curtailment  of  either  one  of  these  means  by 
any  economic  conditions  which  enlarge  the  earn- 
ings of  one  class  at  the  expense  of  any  other. 
The  use  of  labor-saving  machinery  has  immense- 
ly curtailed  the  opportunities  of  employment 
and  decreased  the  means  of  obtaining  a  liveli- 
hood. 

Labor  becomes  less  necessary  every  year  in 
manufacture  and  production.  Sixty  per  cent, 
of  the  earnings  in  production  were  paid  in  wages 
in  1850,  and  forty  per  cent,  were  the  profits  of 
capital.  Now  only  seventeen  per  cent,  of  the 
earnings  are  paid  in  wages,  and  the  balance, 
eighty-three  per  cent.,  is  claimed  by  capital.  The 


180  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

earnings  of  capital  will  continue  to  increase  and 
the  amount  paid  in  wages  will  decrease  in  pro- 
portion as  labor-saving  machinery  displaces  hand 
work,  until  the  workman  will  be  nearly  elim- 
inated from  manufacture  and  production.  Only 
a  mountebank  could  offer  to  remedy  the  evil  by 
a  change  in  the  currency  or  the  tariff. 

The  present  economic  method  of  manufac- 
ture has  been  favored  by  government  and  has 
been  lauded  by  writers  of  political  economy  as 
the  surest  indication  of  progress.  Every  new 
invention  designed  to  displace  labor  has  been 
heralded  through  the  land  as  another  step  in  the 
march  of  progress.  Where  will  it  end?  Work 
will  be  getting  scarcer  and  scarcer  as  labor-sav- 
ing machinery  is  introduced  into  new  branches 
of  industry,  or  greater  improvement  is  made  in 
the  old  inventions. 

This  is  a  comparatively  new  country;  its  re- 
sources are  unrivaled;  its  opportunities  should 
be  unlimited.  New  countries  offer  a  broader 
and  richer  field  to  enterprise  in  developing  their 
resources,  and  give  a  greater  amount  of  employ- 
ment in  proportion  to  their  population  than  do 


REMEDIES. 

those  countries  that  have  already  attained 
wealth  and  a  fixity  in  their  commerce  and  prog- 
ress.* Americans  pride  themselves  on  the  strides 
their  country  is  taking  towards  wealth  and  com- 
mercial supremacy,  but  its  labor  market  is  in  a 
worse  condition  than  is  the  labor  in  those  Euro- 
pean countries  that  came  to  a  standstill  centuries 
ago.  This  is  a  very  abnormal  condition,  and  is 
exceptional  in  the  history  of  any  fertile  and  pro- 
gressive country  in  the  world. 

How  can  these  conditions  be  changed,  so  that 
labor  may  be  placed  on  a  healthy  basis  and  not 
only  move  forward  with  the  progress  of  the 
country  but  also  contribute  its  share  of  the  nec- 
essary elements  of  prosperity?  This  can  be 
done  most  effectively,  and  perhaps,  only,  by  leg- 
islation. 

If  men  can  agree  on  the  cause  of  this  evil  they 
can  abolish  or  restrict  it  by  legislation,  but  to  do 
this  men  must  be  placed  in  legislative  halls  who 
cannot  be  swerved  from  their  duty  by  the  be- 
hests of  any  political  boss  or  machine  or  by  the 
gold  of  corporations  or  trusts.  Do  we  need  ex- 
*Adam  Smith. 


182  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

1  raordinarily  good  men  to  come  up  to  this  stand- 
si  n  I  I  Not  necessarily,  but  they  must  be  elected 
by  labor,  must  be  in  the  employ  of  labor,  and 
must  agree  to  resign  if  labor  requests  them  to 
do  so?* 

Under  present  systems  there  is  practically 
no  check  upon  legislators,  and  they  are  free  to 
vote  away  the  rights  of  the  people  or  to  sell  their 
influence  as  their  pleasure  suggests  or  their 
party  leaders  command,  and  they  can  rely  upon 
the  power  of  machine  politics  to  return  them  to 
office,  notwithstanding  their  record.  The  great- 
est crime  in  the  eyes  of  party  leaders  is  rebellion 
against  party  policy.  Party  policy  includes  the 
collection  of  vast  sums  for  election  purposes. 
These  millions  come  from  trusts,  corporations, 
manufacturers  and  individuals,  and  must  be  re- 
paid by  legislation,  which  often  is  but  the  legis- 
lative transfer  of  public  rights  to  private  corpor- 
ations. 

This  need  not  necessarily  be    the    exclusive 
work  of  labor;  but  labor  is  most  directly  inter- 

*  "The  Working-men's  Political  Labor  Alliance  " 
was  organized  in  Buffalo,  April,  1897. 


EEMEDIES.  133 

ested  in  this  work,  and  on  account  of  its  numbers 
and  organization  it  is  in  a  position  to  put  it  in 
operation.  The  welfare  of  labor  and  the  pros- 
perity of  the  country  depend  upon  a  change  in 
the  methods  of  production.  The  wild  schemes 
proposed  by  labor  leaders,  and  the  pitiful  ap- 
peals for  help  are  like  the  blind  efforts  of  the 
drowning,  clutching  at  straws  to  save  them  from 
death,  and  show  the  desperate  condition  to 
which  they  have  been  reduced.  There  is  no 
prospect  of  more  work  for  the  multitudes  in 
the  future  unless  the  methods  of  production  are 
changed.  The  producing  and  manufacturing 
industries  will  even  need  fewer  operatives  as 
new  labor-saving  inventions  are  introduced  or 
the  old  ones  improved. 

This  country  is  now  producing  about  one- 
third  more  than  it  can  consume.  A  long  line  of 
fast  vessels  are  carrying  millions  of  bushels  of 
our  wheat  to  Europe.  We  are  selling  our  steel 
tools  and  our  steel  rails  in  the  English  market, 
because  we  do  not  need  men  here  in  their  manu- 
facture. We  are  selling  our  carpets,  our  cloth, 
our  cabinet  ware  and  our  boots  and  shoes  all  over 


184  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

Europe,  because  we  can  manufacture  cheaper 
than  they  can.  The  United  States  Government 
instructs  its  consuls  to  hunt  up  a  market  for  our 
products  in  every  country  in  the  world.  We  can- 
not suppose  that  other  countries  will  buy  more  of 
our  products  in  the  future  than  they  do  at  pres- 
ent, because  they  too  are  as  anxious  to  sell  their 
goods  and  make  money  as  are  their  Yankee 
friends.  Our  methods  of  manufacture  will  be 
imitated  wherever  the  process  of  production  can 
be  cheapened,  and  our  foreign  trade  is  not  likely 
to  always  show  a  large  balance  in  our  favor. 

We  must  rely  upon  our  home  markets  for 
healthful  and  permanent  prosperity;  and  any 
system  which  tends  to  glut  these  markets  with- 
out increasing  the  consuming  powers  of  the  land 
is  false  economy  and  the  most  baneful  element 
in  our  trade.  Diminishing  the  demand  for  la- 
bor lessens  the  consuming  power  of  the  great 
mass  of  toilers ;  because  many  are  thrown  out  of 
work  or  their  wages  are  lowered  by  sharp  com- 
petition, and  they  must  forego  all  luxuries  and 
confine  their  purchases  to  the  bare  necessaries  of 
life. 


KEMEDIES.  185 

The  extensive  use  of  labor-saving  machinery 
works  two  evils :  it  causes  overproduction,  and 
it  occasions  underconsumption.  Overproduc- 
tion is  the  universal  cause  of  industrial  depres- 
sion ;  underconsumption  is  the  logical  effect  of 
this  cause.  No  nation  can  enjoy  continued 
prosperity  that  is  subject  to  either  one  of  these 
evils;  and  when  both  exist  at  the  same  time,  as 
they  usually  do,  because  one  causes  the  other, 
then  the  depression  becomes  intense  and  like  a 
contagious  disease  affects  the  financial  life  of 
many  nations. 

The  United  States  cannot  be  freed  from  the 
evil  of  overproduction  until  the  in  cans  of  produc- 
tion are  restricted.  The  means  of  produc- 
tion are  vastly  in  excess  of  the  powers  of  con- 
sumption ;  and  whenever  the  markets  suggest  a 
demand  or  hold  out  a  promise  of  fair  profit,  then 
all  those  means  are  hastily  put  in  operation,  and 
glut  and  stagnation  must  follow.  There  is  no 
overproduction  in  certain  lines  of  costly  goods,* 

*  "Of  special  things,  such  as  fine  tools,  there  is 
never  overproduction.  They  are  too  expensive  to 
produce  to  be  recklessly  made  to  load  up  shelves." 
F.  Gottfried. 


i'i;o(iKKSs. 

in  llic  manufacture  of  which  labor-saving  ma- 
chinery has  not  been  introduced  to  degrade 
them,  because  men  could  not  afford,  to  allow  the 
capital  invested  to  lie  idle,  and  the  supply  never 
exceed^  the  demand.  The  same  principle  would 
control  every  branch  of  production  if  producers 
had  not  been  lured  by  greed  into  the  use  of  la- 
bor-saving machinery  to  cheapen  the  cost  of  pro- 
duction and  to  increase  the  quantity  of  their 
products.  These  greedy  producers  are  like  the 
man  who  killed  the  goose  that  laved  the  golden 
egg,  they  crippled  the  powers  of  consumption 
by  diminishing  the  demand  for  labor.  Greed 
is  the  formal  cause  of  overproduction,  and  over- 
production is  the  efficient  cause  of  industrial  de- 
pression. 

Is  the.  greed  of  a  few  individuals  to  be  al- 
lowed to  cause  suffering  to  the  whole  nation? 
How  can  this  greed  be  checked?  It  can  be 
checked  by  legislation,  either  direct,  or  through 
taxation.  Laws  can  be  passed  to  prohibit  the  use 
of  all  merely  labor-saving  machinery,  or  these 
may  be  taxed  in  such  a  manner  as  to  practically 
prevent  their  iise. 


REMEDIES. 

This  proposition  may  seem  like  a  retrogres- 
sion in  civilization  to  some  of  our  enlightened 
political  economists;  but  the  present  system  will 
soon  lead  to  anarchy  and  revolution,  and  if  our 
civilization  requires  the  sacrifice  of  thousands 
of  human  beings  to  Mammon  then  the  sooner 
this  civilization  is  destroyed  the  better  it  will  be 
for  the  human  race. 

It  would  not  be  wise  to  prohibit  the  use  of  all 
labor-saving  machinery,  as  much  of  it  is  useful 
and  even  necessary  for  transacting  the  vast  com- 
merce of  the  world.  In  many  branches  of  trade 
and  production  labor-saving  machinery  serves 
no  other  purpose  except  to  substitute  machine 
for  hand  work  and  to  displace  labor,  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  lessening  the  cost  of  production.  All 
such  use  of  labor-saving  inventions  should  be 
prohibited  by  law,  or  should  be  so  heavily  taxed 
that  they  could  not  compete  with  hand  labor  in 
a  free  market.  If  man  has  a  right  to  life  he  has 
a  right  to  the  means  of  sustaining  life;  and  it  is 
the  duty  of  government  to  prevent  individuals 
from  unnecessarily  destroying  or  lessening  these 
means  which  nature  and  a  wholesome  state  of 


188  rori  i,\i;  I-KOCKKSS. 

society  provide.  These  means  arise  from  na- 
ture or  from  the  natural  conditions  of  society, 
and  no  one  has  a  right  to  wantonly  destroy  or 
usurp  them  in  such  measure  as  to  exclude  others 
from  their  enjoyment  or  to  cause  suffering  from 
want  of  them. 

"The  ultimate  end  of  government  is  to  secure 
or  provide  for  the  greatest  possible  number,  the 
external  conditions  that  make  happiness  possi- 
ble."* One  of  the  principal  aims  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  is,  "to  promote 
the  general  welfare,"**  and  the  welfare  of  the 
people  may  require  the  government  to  regulate 
the  methods  of  production.  The  government 
regulates  the  commerce  of  the  land,  and  it  may 
regiilate  the  methods  of  production  without  in- 
termeddling much  more  with  private  interests, 
or  of  being  guilty  of  paternalism.  Laws  regu- 
lating industry  are  not  tyrannous  in  their  pro- 
hibitions, nor  do  they  tend  to  paternalism  in 
their  favors.*** 

*  "Labor    and  the  Popular    Welfare."     Mallock. 
**  Preamble  to  Constitution. 
***  Nicholson. 


JtKMEDIES. 

The  absolute  prohibition  of  all  labor-saving 
machinery  in  manufacture  and  production 
would  place  this  country  in  a  very  disadvanta- 
geous position  in  regard  to  those  adjacent  coun- 
tries that  employ  it,  and  these  might  flood  our 
markets  with  their  cheap  products,  and  our 
toilers  would  be  in  a  worse  condition  than  at 
present.  We  can  obviate  this  difficulty  by  an 
ample  protective  tariff.  It  would  not  be  wise  to 
abolish  immediately  all  labor-saving  machinery 
in  every  branch  of  industry;  but  three  or  four 
of  the  most  extensive  trades  might  be  selected, 
in  which  the  use  of  labor-saving  machinery 
serves  no  other  purpose  than  to  cheapen  the  cost 
of  production,  and  in  these  its  use  might  be  en- 
tirely prohibited  or  so  restricted  by  taxation 
that  it  would  amount  to  actual  prohibition,  and 
then  the  hand-made  products  of  these  indus- 
tries might  be  protected  from  foreign  competi- 
tion by  high  protective  tariff. 

The  branches  of  industry  which  offer  the  best 
field  for  this  radical  change  are :  cloth  and  cloth- 
ing making;  boot  and  shoe  making,  cigar  and 
cigarette  making,  agriculture  and  carpentry 


190  miTL.Mt  IM:<M;I:I-:SS. 

with  its  inimical  adjunct— the  planing-  mill. 
These  industries  produce  almost  entirely  for 
home  consumption,  and  they  can  only  be  in  a 
prosperous  condition  when  the  home  markets 
furnish  a  healthful  demand  for  almost  their  en- 
tire products.  "When  in  full  operation  they 
produce  much  more  than  can  be  consumed  at 
home,  and  cause  stagnation  and  depression,  yet 
they  do  not  give  employment  to  one-fourth  the 
number  of  hands  which  should  be  required  to 
produce  the  same  amount. 

A  change  to  hand  work  in  these  industries 
would  not  injure  any  producer,  because  all  would 
be  on  the  same  footing,  but  it  would  im- 
mensely benefit  labor,  giving  employment  to 
several  times  the  number  now  engaged.  Pro- 
fits might  be  smaller,  but  the  market  would  be 
healthier;  there  would  be  a  steady  demand  and 
less  competition,  and  the  consuming  power 
would  be  greatly  increased  through  the  diffusion 
of  money  among  the  consumers.  The  increased 
demand  for  labor  in  those  branches  would  re- 
dound to  the  benefit  of  every  other  branch 
of  industry;  because  it  would  decrease  the  sup- 


REMEDIES. 

ply  in  general  by  offering  inducements  to  men 
in  other  callings  to  enter  these  trades. 
Every  one  can  see  with  half  an  eye  that  the  pres- 
ent pitiable  condition  of  labor  is  caused  by  a  su- 
perabundant supply  in  excess  of  the  demand, 
and  this  method  would  tend  to  produce  an 
equilibrium,  or  even  a  slight  balance  in  favor 
of  labor.  The  country  will  never  suffer  from 
the  excess  of  demand  over  supply  of  labor.  Any 
such  excess  could  easily  be  remedied,  as  it  often 
has  been  in  the  past;*  but  it  is  passing  strange 
that  no  effectual  attempt  has  ever  been  made 
to  honorably  remedy  the  excess  of  supply. 
This  can  be  remedied  as  wrell  as  can  the  excess 
of  demand.  It  never  has  been,  because  legisla- 
tors have  never  been  convinced  that  it  demand- 
ed attention.  Parties  interested  in  the  welfare 
of  labor  were  always  cither  too  insignificant  to 
awaken  public  sympathy  or  too  poor  to  interest 
our  high-priced  law  makers  in  their  cause. 

"Whatever  opposition  may  be  aroused  against 

*Wages  were  once  regulated  by  law  to  prevent 
excessively  high  wages,  labor  was  so  scarce.  Slaves 
were  introduced  into  the  Southern  States  on  ac- 
count of  the  scarcity  of  laborers. 


192  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

the  direct  prohibition  of  labor-saving  machinery 
in  manufacture  and  production,  it  does  not  ap- 
pear that  any  national  objection  can  be  offered 
against  the  taxation  of  the  same. 

Citizens  are  bound  to  support  the  govern- 
ment according  to  their  ability,  not  only  be- 
cause they  are  able  to  contribute  in  proportion 
to  their  wealth,  but  also  because  the  power  and 
protection  of  the  government  are  employed  in 
the  service  of  its  citizens  in  protecting  landed 
estates  and  commercial  interests.  The  more 
wealth  a  man  possesses  the  more  power  of  the 
government  is  required,  in  various  intricate 
ways,  to  preserve- that  wealth  inviolable  and  se- 
cure its  peaceful  possession  to  its  owner.  The 
government  promotes  and  protects  the  com- 
merce and  manufactures  of  the  country.  Our 
consuls  in  every  land  are  instructed  to  report  on 
the  prospects  of  foreign  markets  for  our  pro- 
ducts. Millions  of  dollars  are  spent  every  year 
by  the  government  to  promote  navigation,  to 
facilitate  transportation,  and  to  render  distant 
markets  accessible  to  the  producer. 


REMEDIES.  193 

The  manufacturers  and  producers  are  under 
special  obligations  to  the  government  and 
should  gracefully  submit  to  increased  taxation 
on  account  of  the  protection  and  assistance  ex- 
tended to  them;  their  profits*  have  been  in- 
creasing enormously  in  late  years  through  the 
adoption  of  inventions  protected  by  the  govern- 
ment, though  they  have  not  been  able  to  reap 
the  full  measure  on  account  of  overproduction. 
Xo  laws  are  passed,  no  money  is  expended  to 
improve  the  condition  of  the  toiler,  yet  the 
greater  portion  of  the  taxes,  under  the  present 
system,  are  drawn  from  his  slender  purse.  The 
landlord,  the  grocer,  the  butcher,  the  merchant, 
pay  their  taxes  from  the  profits  they  derive 
from  rent,  or  from  the  sales  of  groceries,  of 
meat  or  of  clothing  to  the  toiler  and  his  family; 
and  if  their  taxes  are  increased  the  landlord 
will  raise  the  rent  a  little  higher;  the  grocer 
will  add  a  little  more  to  the  price  of  eggs,  of 
butter,  or  of  tea;  the  butcher  will  charge  a 

*Twenty-five  years  ago  the  share  of  profits  in 
products  of  capital  and  labor  were  60  and  40  per 
cent,  respectively;  now  they  are  87  and  17  percent, 
respectively. 


194  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

penny  or  two  more  for  a  pound  of  meat;  the 
m crdiant  will  say  the  price  of  clothing  has  gone 
up  and  will  charge  a  dollar  more;  for  a  suit  of 
clothes,  and  all  of  these  will  make  the  toilers 
pay  the  additional  sum  on  their  tax  bills.  Very 
few  wealthy  people  pay  the  tax  on  personal 
property.  A  change,  therefore,  in  the  present 
^y-tcm  of  levying  taxes  would  seem  to  be  a  debt 
of  justice  which  the  State  owes  to  labor. 

"The  power  of  production  constitutes  the  only 
theoretically  just  basis  of  taxation.  Men  are 
bound  to  serve  the  State  in  the  same  degree  in 
which  they  have  the  ability  to  serve  them- 
selves* The  use  of  labor-saving  machinery  has 
enormously  increased  the  power  of  production, 
and  it  should  be  made  to  bear  its  share  of 
the  burden  of  taxation.  Its  use  gives  men  an 
enormous  advantage  over  hand  workers,  and  it 
constitutes  a  vast  monopoly  by  practically  ex- 
cluding all  hand  labor  from  production.  This 
will  never  be  done  on  the  theory  that  it  is  just 
and  right;  it  will  never  be  done  until  men  are 
placed  in  our  legislative  halls  whose  inspirations 
Walker.  Ely. 


REMEDIES.  195 

will  be  a  sense  of  duty,  and  who  will  legislate  for 
the  interests  of  the  country  and  the  rights  of 
their  fellow  men. 

Let  labor  concentrate  all  its  energies  on  the 
work  of  placing  such  men  in  power,  on  the  dis- 
tinct platform  of  the  direct  prohibition  or  heavy 
taxation  of  the  use  of  all  mere  labor-saving  ma- 
chinery* in  production,  and  there  will  be  no 
more  call  for  their  perennial  fatuous  strikes  and 
their  vain  appeal  for  public  sympathy.  They 
can  do  incalculable  good  to  their  cause  and  their 
country.  It  remains  for  the  toilers  to  initiate 
this  great  work,  because  they  are  most  directly 
interested  in  its  success,  but  millions  of  patri- 
otic hearts  will  respond  to  the  call  and  will 
second  their  efforts.  The  great  political  parties 
of  the  present  day  are  too  irretrievably  mersed 
in  the  spoils-hunting  policy,  or  too  trust-ridden 
to  ever  start  such  an  unremunerative  movement 
as  the  redemption  of  this  country  from  its  indus- 
trial thraldom. 

"The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  levy  and 
collect    taxes  .  .  .    and    provide  .  .  .  for    the 
*Such    as  merely  displaces  labor. 


196  Porn.Ai:  I'I;O<;I;KSS. 

pMMTal  welfare."*  It  is  clearly  within  the 
province  of  Congress  to  levy  a  tax  on  labor-sav- 
ing machinery;  and  the  general  welfare  will  not 
only  justify  Congress  in  imposing  this  tax,  but 
does  most  earnestly  demand  it  from  Congress 
as  a  measure  of  public  necessity.  In  what  other 
way  can  work  be  given  to  the  thousands  and 
the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  idle  men?  Gov- 
ernment may  not  be  obliged  to  provide  em- 
ployment for  idle  men;  but  it  should  protect  its 
weaker  citizens  from  the  rapacity  of  the  strong, 
and  it  must  prevent  its  citizens  from  restricting, 
destroying,  or  monopolizing  the  means  of  earn- 
ing a  livelihood  in  such  a  manner  that  others 
must  suffer  from  want  of  them. 

The  House  of  Representatives  is  the  proper 
place  to  inaugurate  this  law.  Labor  may  not  be 
able  to  secure  a  majority  of  the  House,  but  they 
could  secure  at  least  enough  members  to  make 
their  influence  felt  and  to  hold  the  balance  of 
power.  Public  opinion  would  come  to  their  aid  if 
the  question  was  fairly  placed  before  the  country. 

*Article   1,   Sec.    8,   Constitution    of   the   United 
States. 


REMEDIES.  197 

The  great  bonanza  farms  of  the  A\Test  and 
Southwest,  that  are  forcing  the  real  farmers  into 
poverty  should  be  abolished  by  law.  They  are 
vast  speculative  monopolies,  entirely  opposed  to 
the  interests  of  agriculture  and  the  prosperity  of 
the  land.  The  general  prosperity  of  the  land 
depends  in  great  measure  upon  the  prosperity  of 
the  farming  population.  The  condition  of  the 
fanning  population  has  been  growing  worse 
from  year  to  year.  The  young  people  have  been 
abandoning  fanning,  simply  because  there  is  no 
money  in  it.  Our  real  farmers  cannot  compete 
with  the  great  bonanza  farms  of  the  West  and 
South.  Labor-saving  machinery  have  made  the 
bonanza  farms  possible.  Abolish  labor-saving 
agricultural  machines,  or  restrict  their  use,  and 
the  bonanza  monsters  will  disappear.  Thou- 
sands will  again  take  to  farming  life,  which  af- 
forded honorable  and  profitable  living  before 
and  will  do  so  again  when  restored  to  its  former 
condition.  Every  form  of  industry  will  profit 
by  the  renewed  life  of  agriculture. 

There  is  ample  field  for  the  genius,  the  num- 
bers and  the  power  that  labor  can  send  forth  to 


198  I'OITLAK   IMHMJKKSS. 

bring  real  prosperity  back  to  the  land — a  pros- 
perity that  is  not  merely  measured  by  the  clear- 
ings of  the  banks  or  the  volume  of  trade;  but  a 
prosperity  which  includes  work  and  good  wages 
for  the  laborer,  the  mechanic,  the  clerk,  the 
tradesman  of  every  branch  of  industry,  and  com- 
fort and  happiness  in  their  homes.  Those  peo- 
ple who  are  most  interested,  the  vast  body  of 
toilers,  are  numerous  enough  to  sweep  every- 
thing before  them,  if  they  are  only  wisely 
guided,  and  secure  able  men  to  direct  their 
councils  and  to  control  their  acts. 

There  is  no  hope  for  the  improvement  of  the 
labor  market  by  strikes  or  unions  so  long  as  there 
are  thousands  of  idle  men  ready  and  willing  to 
accept  any  employment  that  will  bring  them 
enough  money  to  ward  off  starvation;  yet  the 
country  is  not  over-crowded,  its  resources  are 
not  exhausted.  There  is  territory  enough  in  the 
United  States  to  accommodate  a  population  of 
five  hundred  million.*  The  resources  of  the 
land  are  almost  unlimited,  but  they  have  been 

•Germany  and  England  have  a  population  about 
equal  to  that  of  the  United  States,  yet  their  com- 
bined territory  is  no  larger  than  the  State  of  Texas. 


REMEDIES. 

badly  managed — they  havebeen  monopolized  by 
a  few  who  in  their  greed  have  lost  sight  of  the 
rights  of  their  fellow  men.  Law  alone  can  re- 
store the  country  to  healthful  and  prosperous 
conditions,  and  the  power  to  establish  this  law 
lies  in  the  hands  of  the  toilers. 

Toilers  have  only  themselves  to  blame  if  they 
do  not  make  industrial  methods  conform  to  the 
true  requisites  of  prosperity  and  to  the  measure 
of  their  wants.  They  may  plead  in  vain  to  our 
law  makers  for  justice,  and  they  will  not  be 
heard  except  their  good  will  and  their  votes  are 
wanted,  and  these  may  be  secured  by  some 
trifling  law  of  doubtful  value.  But  why  should 
they  appeal  to  others  for  justice  when  they  have 
the  power  in  their  own  hands  of  meting  out  jus- 
tice to  themselves?  Men  may  clamor  against  a 
change  which  they  believe  to  be  a  retrogression 
in  progress  and  civilization;  but  once  the  new 
laws  are  in  operation  they  will  cheerfully  obey, 
and  will  learn  to  bless  the  wisdom  that  has 
forced  prosperity  on  the  land. 

The  wage-earners  form  fully  three-fourths*  of 
*Engene    Debs. 


HUM  F,\I; 

the  population  of  the  country.  Majority  rules 
in  this  land;  and  if  the  wage-earners  understand 
their  wants  and  the  changes  necessary  in  indus- 
trial conditions  to  give  work  to  the  unemployed, 
they  will  have  only  themselves  to  blame  if  they 
do  not  obtain  all  they  desire.  Intelligence  is 
the  first  essential  of  success.  When  the  toilers 
have  full  knowledge  of  the  evil  of  the  present 
system  of  production,  and  a  complete  under- 
standing of  the  changes  necessary  to  abolish  the 
evil,  and  unite  in  laboring  for  the  proposed  end, 
no  power  can  restrain  them  from  accomplishing 
their  purpose.* 

Labor  in  general  is  worthy  of  as  much  atten- 
tion from  this  government  as  any  other  depart- 
ment of  State,  and  it  should  have  a  representa- 
tive from  its  own  ranks,  or,  at  least,  one  well 
versed  in  its  wants,  in  a  Cabinet  position.  Agri- 
culture is  represented  in  the  Cabinet,  though  the 

•Intelligent,  united  and  concerted  action  by 
his  ballot,  and  through  this  to  control  the  law-mak- 
ing bodies  of  the  United  States,  is  the  •working- 
man's  only  hope.  "The  workman  makes  as  much 
use  of  his  ballot  as  a  howling  savage  would  make  of 
a  chronometer.  He  can  by  voting  work  out  his  own 
salvation.  When  will  we  begin?"  New  York  Evening 
Journal. 


HEMED1ES.  201 

duties  of  this  department  seem  to  be  limited  to 
distributing  seed  among  the  farmers.  The  con- 
dition of  the  fanning  population  has  been  con- 
tinually growing  worse,  because  no  intelligent 
effort  has  been  made  to  advance  their  interests. 
If  the  Department  of  Agriculture  had  advised 
the  President,  years  ago,  to  urge  Congress  to 
abolish  the  bonanza  farms  of  the  West,  or  to 
limit  by  law  the  number  of  acres  any  one  party 
could  possess,  or  to  put  a  practically  prohibitory 
tax  upon  labor-saving  agricultural  machinery, 
farming  would  be  in  a  prosperous  condition  to- 
day; and  every  branch  of  industry  would  have 
been  benefited  by  the  impetus  given  to  agri- 
culture. 

The  establishment  of  the  Labor  Bureau  was  a 
graceful  recognition  of  the  rights  of  labor  to  gov- 
ernment attention.  The  Bureau  should  be  in 
thorough  sympathy  with  the  aims  of  labor;  it 
should  advocate  labor's  cause;  and  it  should  urge 
the  passage  of  laws  that  would  improve  the  con- 
dition of  the  wage-earners.  The  Bureau  seems 
now  to  be  taken  up  considerably  with  useless 
juggling  of  the  inconsequent  figures  of  the  cen- 


202  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

sus,  trying  to  prove  by  statistics  that  the  toilers 
receive  better  wages  and  have  more  work  than 
at  any  time  in  the  past  half  century.  There  is 
a  suspicion  also  that  the  octopus  arms  of  trusts 
and  monopolies  have  enveloped  the  Bureau  in 
their  folds.* 

The  Patent  Office  is  a  prime  factor  in  the  birth 
and  growth  of  trusts.  Exclusive  rights  are 
given  to  parties  to  use  some  process  in  produc- 
tion, and  it  is  an  easy  matter  then  to  drive  hand 
labor  from  the  field,  with  the  assistance  of  gov- 
ernment. Patents  should  not  be  given  to  in- 
ventions, which  are  nothing  more  than  cunning 
devices  for  robbing  men  of  the  means  of  earning 
a  livelihood.  Why  not  issue  a  patent  to  the  ex- 
pert cracksman  to  secure  to  him  the  exclusive 
right  of  opening  safes,  or  to  the  shrewd  burglar, 
who  has  some  secret  of  opening  doors  and  win- 
dows? These  are  only  slightly  more  direct 
forms  of  spoliation  than  those  which  have  the 

*At  a  recent  convention  of  mayors  of  cities  and 
other  interested  parties  held  in  one  of  our  Western 
cities  to  discuss  municipal  ownership  of  franchises, 
street  railways,  gas,  etc.,  the  Labor  Bureau  was  rep- 
resented by  a  high  official  who  favored  monopolies 
and  corporations. 


REMEDIES.  203 

sanction  of    government    through    the  Patent 
Office. 

Some  criterion  of  worth  should  be  required 
in  every  invention  before  a  patent  is  issued  for 
its  use.  Inventions  which  have  no  other  object 
than  to  displace  labor  employed  at  good  wages 
should  not  be  tolerated;  they  should  be  con- 
demned by  the  Labor  Bureau  as  inimical  to  the 
interests  of  the  class  of  citizens  this  Bureau  is 
supposed  to  represent.  Inventions  which  lighten 
the  burdens  of  toil  without  displacing  em- 
ployed labor  are  a  blessing;  but  those  which 
merely  displace  labor  only  serve  to  gratify  the 
greed  of  some,  whilst  they  add  to  the  sum  of  hu- 
man misery  in  the  world.  Every  invention  which 
is  intended  for  the  field  of  labor  should  have 
the  approval  of  the  Labor  Bureau  before  a  patent 
is  issued  for  it,  and  before  it  is  allowed  in  use 

Organized  labor*  looks  now  to  shorter  hours 
for  a  solution  of  the  problem  of  the  unemployed 
and  higher  wages.  Shorter  hours  of  labor  would 
certainly  give  employment  to  a  greater  number; 
but  this  change  would  not  improve  the  condition 
*Samuel  Gompers,  N.  Y.  Herald,  Jan.  2,  1898. 


204  roi-i  [,\i;  fi;o(-;i;Kss. 

of  labor  unless  they  can  obtain  the  same  wages. 
Success  in  any  labor  movement  depends  upon 
the  condition  of  the  labor  market.  If  the  de- 
mand for  labor  exceeds  the  supply  labor  can  stip- 
ulate its  own  terms  as  to  wages  and  the  hours; 
but  if  the  supply  vastly  exceeds  the  demand, 
then  labor  will  be  willing  to  accept  any  terms. 
The  government  will  sustain  the  right  to  pri- 
vate contract,  and  prospective  starvation  has 
made  many  a  brave  army  capitulate. 

The  eight-hour  day  would  only  bring  tempor- 
ary relief,  even  if  it  could  be  universally  en- 
forced, which  is  not  at  all  probable.  The  dis- 
placement of  labor  by  machinery  would  con- 
tinue just  the  same,  and  the  cause  of  the  evil 
\vould  be  as  vigorous  as  ever.  Remove  the 
cause  and  the  disease  will  be  entirely  eradicated. 
A  few  employers  may  reduce  the  working  hours, 
but  there  will  also  be  a  proportionate  cut  in 
wages,  unless  conditions  are  changed.  Em- 
ployers may  do  as  they  please  now,  because  the 
labor  supply  is  vastly  in  excess  of  the  demand. 
Employees  may  strike;  but  their  places  will  be 
taken  by  others,  or  machines  will  be  substituted 


J;I;MEDIES.  205 

for  men.  Wlirii  the  demand  for  labor  equals, 
<>r  exceeds  the  supply,  then  the  toilers  can  make 
their  own  terms  and  the  employers  will  be  forced 
to  meet  them. 

Remedies  for  the  industrial  depression,  which 
has  settled  over  the  land,  were  proposed  in  the 
politics  of  the  two  great  parties  at  the  last  Presi- 
dential election;  but  neither  one  was  founded 
upon  the  true  cause  of  the  evil,  and,  consequent- 
ly, could  not  bring  permanent  relief.  States- 
men and  politicians  advocated  these  remedies  as 
popular  means  of  gaining  public  favor  rather 
than  from  profound  study  of  the  causes  of  the 
evil.  Protection  for  our  industries  can  bring 
very  little  relief  whilst  our  own  cheap  methods 
of  production  enable  us  to  undersell  Europeans 
in  their  own  markets;  and  greater  quantity  of 
money  cannot  cure  the  ill  whilst  millions  are  ly- 
ing idle  awaiting  profitable  investment. 

Give  plenty  of  work  at  good  wages  and  the 
"hard  times"  will  vanish,  never  more  to  return 
as  long  as  the  wages  and  work  will  last;  and 
these  can  be  made  permanent  by  the  reforms  in- 
dicated in  our  methods  of  .production. 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE  OUTLOOK. 

Much  suffering  will,  no  doubt,  always  exist  in 
the  world.  The  volume  of  business  is  so  vast 
and  complicated  that  stagnations  and  failures  in 
some  branches  must  necessarily  come.  Men  will 
be  improvident,  and  will  fail  to  profit  by  the  op- 
portunities which  nature  and  commercial  con- 
ditions hold  out  to  them.  Production  is  vastly 
in  excess  of  consumption  in  all  the  manufactur- 
ing and  civilized  countries  of  the  world.  The 
science  of  production  has  reached  a  high  degree 
of  perfection  and  is  still  capable  of  almost  un- 
limited further  development,  whilst  the  science 
of  distribution*  is  yet  in  its  rud  e  embryonic  state, 
and  is  deteriorating  instead  of  progressing.  The 
earth  is  capable  of  producing  food  enough  to 
supply  many  times  the  number  of  its  present  in- 
habitants, and  the  rates  of  transportation  are  so 
cheap  and  the  methods  so  rapid  that  no  portion 
of  the  world  need  necessarily  suffer  from  want  of 
the  necessaries  of  life. 

*By   distribution   is  meant  the   distribution  of 
the  income  derived  from  products. 


THE  OUTLOOK.  207 

With  such  abundance  of  products  and  facil- 
ities for  sending  goods  to  every  part  of  the 
world,  the  only  drawback  to  general  prosperity 
and  happiness  would  be  inability  to  purchase. 
This  feature  of  the  social  and  industrial  problem 
has  never  seemed  to  merit  the  attention  of  our 
political  economists  and  statesmen,  although  it 
is  necessarily  connected  with  prosperity.  Where 
there  is  underconsumption,  there  will  be  over- 
production, unless  there  be  a  famine;  yet  our 
manufacturers,  economists  and  statesmen  act  on 
the  principle  that  prosperity  depends  upon  pro- 
duction alone,  and  they  cripple  the  consuming 
power  in  the  attempt  to  increase  the  powers  of 
production.  This  is  about  as  foolish  as  for  a 
man  to  expect  to  run  faster  by  shackling  one 
leg  in  order  to  concentrate  all  his  power  on  the 
other;  both  are  necessary  for  rapid  progress. 
There  is  money  in  producing;  there  is  none  in 
consuming.  This  may  be  the  secret  of  the  dif- 
ference of  interest  taken  in  these  two  subjects  by 
our  public  men. 

Prosperity  will  never  find  a  permanent  abode 
in  this  land  as  long  as  the  consuming  powers  of 


208  POIMLAi;   PROGRESS. 

the  nation  are  in  a  crippled  condition;  and  the 
consuming  powers  will  ever  remain  crippled  un- 
til a  check  is  placed  upon  the  use  of  labor-saving 
machinery.  The  volume  of  business  and  trade 
for  the  past  few  months*  has  been  enormous, 
and  has  surpassed,  most  probably,  anything  in 
the  history  of  the  country;  yet  there  are  thou- 
sands of  men  out  of  employment.  This  extra- 
ordinary volume  of  trade  is  caused  by  the  failure 
of  grain  crops  in  India  and  South  America, 
(which  supply  about  one-half  the  wheat  to  Euro- 
pean markets),  and  by  the  ability  of  American 
manufacturers  to  produce  certain  lines  of 
goods**  cheaper  than  they  can  be  produced  in 
Europe.  These  two  causes  of  extraordinary  de- 
mand for  American  products  are  accidental  and 
transitory,  and  cannot  be  relied  upon  as  a  perma- 
nent source  of  prosperity.  We  are  very  seldom 
called  upon  to  furnish  more  than  a  certain  ratio 
of  the  European  food  supply,  and  our  ability  to 
undersell  European  manufacturers  offers  no 
hope  of  future  stability. 

*October,  1898. 

**Steel  rails,  tools,  carpets,  and  machines  of  vari- 
ous kinds. 


THE  OUTLOOK.  QQ9 

Russia,  India,  South  America  and  the  United 
States  make  up  the  shortage  of  the  wheat  supply 
for  Great  Britain  and  Continental  Europe.  The 
wheat  crops  of  India  and  of  some  of  the  South 
American  States  were  partial  failures  this  year, 
and  this  created  an  extraordinary  demand  for 
the  food  and  grain  supply  of  the  United  States. 
The  price  of  wheat  more  than  doubled  (in  value), 
and  this  accidental  demand  started  the  wheels  in 
every  branch  of  industry,  and  inspired  people 
with  the  confidence  of  prosperity  returned. 

Our  bonanza  farms,  with  their  labor-saving 
harvesters,  reapers,  and  threshers,  can  put  wheat 
on  the  market  cheaper  than  any  other  country 
in  the  world.  Russia  and  South  America  are 
adopting  our  methods  and  our  machines,  and, 
with  the  aid  of  India  and  cheap  labor,  may  yet  be 
able  to  force  United  States  wheat  from  the  Euro- 
pean markets.  The  present  extraordinary  for- 
eign demand  is  accidental  and  fictitious,  and  it 
would  be  folly  to  base  upon  this  our  hope  of  con- 
tinued prosperity. 

"We  are  selling  our  manufactured  goods  in 
every  part  of  the  world  where  we  can  find  a 


210  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

market  for  them,  and  the  markets  at  present  are 
extensive  and  favorable.  We  can  undersell  Eu- 
ropean manufacturers  even  in  their  own  markets, 
though  labor  is  considered  cheaper  there,  because 
our  labor-saving  machinery  displaces  skilled 
labor  and  increases  the  output  and  lessens  the 
cost  of  production.  Yankee  agents  are  first  in 
every  field,  and  like  swarms  of  summer  insects, 
they  swoop  down  upon  every  promising  field  to 
gather  in  the  substance  and  the  wealth  that  it 
yields.  The  zenith  of  civilization,  according  to 
the  views  of  our  up-to-date  business  men,  would 
be  to  induce  the  savage  to  dress  in  our  sweat- 
shop, machine-made  clothing,  and  to  cover  his 
feet  with  our  factory-made  shoes.  Virtue,  mor- 
ality, enlightenment,  the  fine  arts,  are  anti- 
quated ideas,  good  enough  for  the  ladies  or  re- 
tired merchants.  Education  is  good,  but  only 
in  as  much  as  it  fits  one  for  a  successful  finan- 
cial career.  Business,  trade  and  wealth  are  the 
standards  of  civilization  today. 

Can  the  United  States  maintain  her  supremacy 
in  foreign  markets?  Labor-saving  machinery 
enables  our  manufacturers  to  produce  at  less  cost, 


THE  OUTLOOK.  211 

and  to  undersell  their  foreign  competitors;* 
but  will  not  these  foreign  manufacturers  adopt 
labor-saving  machinery,  and,  with  their  cheaper 
labor}  drive  American  goods  out  of  their  markets? 
It  would  be  presumption  to  assume  that  there 
is  not  scientific  knowledge  or  inventive  genius 
enough  in  Europe  to  construct  machines  which 
will  cheapen  the  cost  of  production  by  dis- 
placing labor. 

England  once  had  a  monopoly  of  labor- 
saving  machines  used  in  the  textile  industries, 
and  only  necessity,  "the  mother  of  inventions," 
led  American  genius  to  surpass  them  in  this 
field.  Necessity  may  arouse  European  manu- 
facturers to  employ  inventive  genius  that  will 
construct  machines  which  will  enable  them  to 
successfully  compete  with  their  American 
rivals  ;  and  then,  where  will  our  manufacturers 
find  markets  for  their  enormous  yields  of  cheap 
products  ? 

Permanent  prosperity  can  only  come  from  the 

*The  London  Times  says:  "  American  machine 
tools  by  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  worth 
are  sent,  freight  paid,  for  thousands  of  mills  across 
the  ocean  to  England,  France,  Russia,  Japan  and 
China.  (See  preceding  note.) 


I'OITLAK   I'IMM.i:' 

constant  and  ample  demand  of  home  mark' 
and  this  constant  demand  can  only  be  main- 
tained when  the  actual  consumption  about 
equals  the  powers  of  production.**  Methods  of 
production  that  cripple  consumption  are  evils 
that  should  be  remedied  by  legislation,  because 
they  violate  the  rights  of  individuals  and  they 
are  inimical  to  the  general  interests  of  the  coun- 
try. 

The  United  States  leads  the  world  today  in 
the  use  of  labor-saving  machinery  in  the  various 
branches  of  manufacture  and  production,  and  the 
United  States  is  more  subject  than  any  other 
country  in  the  world  to  the  fluctuations  of  fitful 
progress  and  long  continued  industrial  depres- 
sion. Other  nations  may  be  subject  to  these 
changes,  but  only  in  proportion  to  their  use  of 
labor-saving  machinery.  Speculation  or  crop 
failure  may  cause  temporary  embarrassments  in 

*Chauncey  Depew,  interview  on  the  cause  of 
"  hard  times." 

**This  does  not  mean  that  their  output  should 
be  limited  to  the  demands  of  home  consumption,  but 
that  the  methods  used  for  supplying  the  home  mar- 
ket should  be  such  as  would  give  abundant  employ- 
ment to  all  forms  of  labor. 


THE  OUTLOOK.  s>13 

any  land,  which  may  be  easily  overcome;  but  de- 
pressions arising  from  industrial  methods  cannot 
be  remedied  except  by  a  change  or  removal  of 
the  cause. 

France,  Germany,  Italy,  Spain,  Austria  and 
the  minor  countries  of  Europe  scarcely  ever  suf- 
fer from  long  continued  periods  of  "hard  times;" 
yet  they  are  able  to  support  enormous  standing 
armies,  and  their  people  are  fairly  prosperous. 
The  man  may  not  get  very  high  wages,  but  there 
is  work  of  some  kind  for  everybody.  The  cause 
of  their  continued  prosperity  is  simple  enough; 
they  do  not  use  labor-saving  machinery  which 
would  flood  their  markets  with  cheap  products, 
would  cripple  their  consuming  power,  and  would 
deprive  their  men  of  employment.  Their  cities 
show  every  evidence  of  wealth,  health,  comfort, 
convenience  and  splendor  that  can  be  found  in 
what  we  are  pleased  to  consider  our  own  more 
progressive  land.  They  excel  us  in  literature, 
architecture,  painting,  sculpture  and  music. 
Their  civilization  is  refined;  ours  is  machine 
made. 


214  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

European,  merchants  and  manufacturers  will 
soon  learn  that  there  is  money  in  our  methods, 
and  they  may  make  use  of  labor-saving  inven- 
tions to  drive  our  products  out  of  their  markets. 
Let  us  hope,  not  only  on  account  of  our  own  in- 
terests, but  more  especially  on  account  of  the  gen- 
eral welfare  of  the  congested  populations  of  Eu- 
rope, that  our  patent  labor-saving  devices  will 
never  be  introduced  in  their  industries.  This 
country  is  better  able  than  any  European  coun- 
try to  stand  the  enormous  displacement  of  labor 
caused  by  the  use  of  labor-saving  inventions. 
We  have  boundless  territory  and  unlimited  re- 
sources; but  even  these  are  not  sufficient  to  off- 
set the  evils  of  our  industrial  methods.  ~No  Eu- 
ropean country  could  stand  the  enormous  dis- 
placement of  labor  that  has  taken  place  here 
without  frightful  ruin  and  extensive  want. 

What  benefits  have  these  labor-saving  ma- 
chine methods  conferred  upon  this  country?  A 
few  individuals  have  made  fortunes  out  of  them, 
whilst  the  country  has  been  forced  to  the  verge 
of  bankruptcy  in  its  private  affairs  and  its  public 
relations.  The  Government  was  forced  to  secure 


THE  OUTLOOK.  215 

a  loan  to  meet  its  expenses.  Banks  would  not 
make  loans  because  they  could  not  make  collec- 
tions. Manufactories  were  idle  because  there 
was  no  market.  Millions  of  men  were  forced 
out  because  machines  had  taken  their  places,  and 
had  flooded  the  markets  with  goods  for  which 
there  was  no  demand.  All  this  time  France,* 
as  well  as  the  other  Continental  European  na- 
tions, enjoyed  uninterrupted  industrial  pros- 
perity because  they  had  not  introduced  the  ab- 
normal factor  of  labor-saving  machinery  into 
their  industries,  to  destroy  the  equilibrium  be- 
tween consumption  and  production,  and  to  bring 
the  spectre  of  "hard  times"  into  their  lands  by 
depriving  the  toilers  of  their  employment. 

Whilst  millions  in  the  United  States  are 
walking  the  streets  looking  for  employment, 
some  men  offering  to  sell  themselves  as  slaves** 
that  they  may  obtain  food  and  shelter,  little 
Japan,  a  nation  we  look  upon  as  semi-barbarous, 
is  seen  calling  her  sons  from  Hawaii  and  other 

*Testimony  of  editor  Cleveland  Leader. 

**Two  cases  were  recently  advertised  in  the  New 
York  World.  They  were  young,  healthy,  well  edu- 
cated men  who  offered  to  sell  themselves  as  slaves. 


-jU;  I'OIM   I.AK   I'KlMiKKSS. 

lands  to  work  at  home,  so  abundant  is  the 
employment  and  so  prosperous  the  condition  of 
the  country.*  Wages  are  high;  yet  they  cannot 
compare  with  the  United  States  in  export  trade 
or  internal  resources;  but  they  have  no  labor- 
saving  devices  to  destroy  their  prosperity.  Nearly 
all  their  products  are  made  by  hand,**  and  this 
secures  steady  employment  and  good  wages  to 
their  toilers,  and  permanent  prosperity  to  their 
land.  They  are  fast  advancing  toward  commer- 
cial and  political  supremacy  in  the  East,  and  some 
think  they  are  arriving  at  naval  supremacy  on 
the  Pacific  Ocean. 

It  is  short-sighted  policy  to  allow  the  greed 
of  a  few  individuals  to  retard  the  progress  of 
the  whole  nation.  Those  semi-barbarous  Ori- 
entals may  yet  teach  us  that  true  progress  con- 
sists in  the  welfare  of  the  whole  people,  and  not 
in  the  enormous  wealth  of  a  few  who  have  been 
favored  by  laws  and  special  privileges. 

Manysensible  and  prominent  men  are  inclined 
to  look  with  favor  upon  a  modified  form  of  com- 

*Nargaski  correspondent  New  York  Sun. 
**About   the  only  labor-saving  machinery  in  use 
there  is  two  American  saw  mills. 


THE  OUTLOOK.  217 

munism,  "municipal  socialism,"  as  a  remedy  for 
the  ills  which  are  afflicting  political  and  urban 
life.  They  see  that  trusts  and  monopolies  are 
able  to  buy  up  legislative  bodies  and  through 
them  secure  valuable  privileges  and  franchises 
without  just  cempensation  to  the  people,  and 
they  are  lured  into  believing  that  it  would  be 
better  for  the  people,  through  the  municipality, 
to  retain  the  ownership  of  these  public  fran- 
chises. This  would  only  transfer  the  control 
from  corporate  bodies  to  political  rings,  and 
from  comparatively  harmless  sources  of  indi- 
vidual wealth,  they  would  become  powerful 
engines  of  political  corruption.  Better,  in  this 
case:  "to  bear  those  ills  we  have,  than  fly  to 
others  we  know  not  of." 

Private  ownership  of  institutions  that  serve 
the  public  is  more  in  accordance  with  the  liberty 
of  our  land  than  municipal  absorption  *  of  indi- 
vidual enterprise,  and  private  corporations  will 

*The  experience  of  Brazil  with  her  railways 
under  state  control  should  be  a  warning  against  mu- 
nicipal ownership  of  works  that  employ  great  bodies 
of  men.  The  railway  which  should  pay  well  was 
run  at  a  loss,  and  twice  the  number  of  men  necessary 
wrere  given  employment  because  they  were  friends  of 
those  in  office. 


218  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

render  better  service  than  political  parties.  If 
private  corporations  can  be  made  to  pay  for  the 
use  of  privileges  in  proportion  to  their  value, 
there  will  be  no  need  to  have  recourse  to  frater- 
nalism  or  socialism  to  remove  the  evil  in  many 
private  monopolies.  These  monopolies  are  only 
evil  because  they  are  not  obliged  to  pay  for  the 
use  of  public  property,  or  because  they  evade 
the  just  taxation  for  government  protection 
which  renders  their  business  so  enormously 
lucrative. 

European  nations  are  already  awakening  to 
a  realization  of  the  injury  to  their  commercial 
and  industrial  interests  by  allowing  their 
markets  to  be  flooded  by  the  cheap  products  of 
American  labor-saving  machinery.  Trades 
unions  of  Scotland  have  declared  against  the 
importation  of  cheap  American  ready-machine- 
made  joinery.  Poor  as,  we  think,  their  car- 
penters and  joiners  are  paid,  they  are  not  so 
degraded  as  our  machine-made  goods  would 
make  them.  Count  Goluchowski,*  the  Austro- 


*Address   to    Austrian    and    Hungarian    delega- 
tions, Nov.  21,  1897. 


THE  OUTLOOK.  219 

Hungarian  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  appeals 
to  all  the  nations  of  Europe  to  unite  in  a  vig- 
orous defense  of  their  home  industries  against 
the  "crushing  competition  of  Trans-Atlantic 
nations."  "We  must  fight,"  he  says,  "shoulder 
to  shoulder  against  the  common  danger,  to 
protect  the  vital  interests  of  the  people  of 
Europe."  As  each  of  the  immediate  preceding 
centuries  has  presented  some  particular  grave 
universal  problem  for  solution,  the  approaching 
twentieth  century  will  be  noted  for  the  great 
industrial  and  commercial  struggle.  The  ad- 
vance guard  of  American  machine-made  pro- 
ducts is  already  invading  European  markets,  and 
the  succeeding  hosts  of  the  main  army  threaten, 
unless  checked,  to  conquer  the  commerce  of  the 
world,  and  to  destroy  the  industrial  life  of 
all  Europe.* 

If  our  products  be  excluded  from  European 
markets,  .where  can  we  find  a  market  for  our 
enormous  surplus  stock?  Several  departments 

*Ibid.      Speech  before  Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
Creydon,   Nov.  23,  1897. 

Herr    Hammacher,    in    the    German    Reichstag, 
repeats  the  note  of  warning-  uttered  by  Count  Golu- 


220  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

of  the  government  are  enlisted  in  the  service  of 
the  manufacturers,  and  are  instructed  to  find 
foreign  markets  for  their  goods.  Merchants 
are  seeking  markets  in  South  America,  because 
we  can  undersell  their  cheap  labor  products.* 
The  Rt.  Hon.  Charles  Ritchie,  president  of  the 
London  Board  of  Trade,  also  warns  British 
manufacturers  against  American  competition. 
"Americans,"  he  says,  "are  ousting  the  British 
from  their  own  markets,  because  freedom  in  the 
use  of  labor-saving  machinery  enables  Amer- 
icans to  manufacture  at  less  cost." 

Our  industries  can  only  be  in  a  healthful  and 
prosperous  condition  when  the  means  of  pro- 
ducing to  supply  the  home  consumption  will 
give  employment  to  nearly  all  our  workers.  If 
production  were  now  limited  to  supply  the 

chowski  in  Austria,  and  adds  that  it  behooves  Ger- 
many to  be  ready  for  the  industrial  struggle  against 
America  in  the  next  century. 

*They  now  propose  to  appoint  military  attaches 
to  each  of  the  South  American  legations,  whose  sole 
office  will  be  to  iind  markets  for  military  stores  of 
American  manufacture. 

Men  propose  to  fit  out  a  large  vessel  with  our 
machine-made  goods,  and  to  exhibit  them  in  all  the 
South  American  countries,  in  the  hope  of  extensively 
enlarging  our  markets  by  the  cheapness  of  our  products. 


THE  OUTLOOK.  221 

home  demand,  ruin  and  general  depression  would 
follow;  because  our  system  is  built  on  the  false 
notion  that  production  alone  is  prosperity. 

We  are  the  greatest  producing  country  today 
in  the  world.  Our  resources  are  unlimited.  Our 
fertile  fields  can  furnish  food  for  many  times 
the  number  of  our  people.  Our  manufacturing 
facilities  are  vastly  in  excess  of  home  consump- 
tion. Unless  we  can  keep  consumption  up  to 
the  rapid  progress  of  production  stagnation 
must  follow.  This  is  all  the  more  certain  as 
present  methods  of  production  do  not  even  now 
give  employment  to  all  our  workers.  Some 
check  must  be  put  upon  our  outrageous  methods 
of  producing  if  we  ever  hope  to  see  permanent 
prosperity  in  our  land. 

One  of  the  great  evils  of  the  present,  and  one 
which  threatens  to  increase  instead  of  diminish 
as  the  years  roll  by,  is  the  existence  of  trusts 
that  monopolize  certain  lines  of  trade  and  force 
small  dealers  out  of  business.  Trusts  invade 
every  branch  of  trade  and  manufacture.  At- 
tempts have  been  made  to  legislate  against  them, 
but  party  interests  are  too  closely  allied  with 


222  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

the  prosperity  of  the  trusts  to  foster  any  real 
opposition  to  them  in  our  legislatures,  and  wily 
politicians  succeed  in  inserting  some  annulling 
clause  in  anti-trust  laws  to  hoodwink  the 
people. 

Machinery  methods  of  production,  and  the 
factory  system,  have  favored  the  existence  of 
trusts.  With  all  the  manufactures,  in  certain 
lines,  confined  to  a  few  large  establishments,  it 
is  an  easy  matter  to  bring  production  under  one 
control.  Greater  capital  is  required  to  manufac- 
ture by  machinery  than  by  hand,  and  this,  of 
itself,  tends  towards  the  concentration  of  pro- 
duction. Division  of  labor,  which  is  a  necessary 
concomitant  of  machinemanufacture,*  requires 
production  on  a  large  scale,  and  this  also  favors 
monopoly. 

Hand  methods  cannot  compete  with  machine 
production.  Hand  make,  in  nearly  every  branch 
of  production,  is  superior  in  workmanship, 
finish  and  value  to  the  machine-made  goods;  yet 

*This  word  is  now  something'  of  a  misnomer 
when  applied  to  machinery.  Originally  it  meant  the 
making  by  hand.  Hands  have  very  little  to  do  in 
modern  methods  of  manufacture. 


THE  OUTLOOK.  223 

the  former  cannot  compete  with  the  latter  on 
account  of  the  vast  disparity  in  the  cost  of  pro- 
duction. Independent  hand  producers  were 
obliged  to  abandon  their  little  shops  and  unite 
with  the  great  modern  manufactories,  or  drop 
out  of  the  business;  and  then  it  was  but  another 
step,  and  quite  a  natural  one  too,  to  unite  the 
manufactories  under  one  head,  and  thus  form 
a  trust. 

All  trusts  may  not  have  been  built  up  in  this 
manner,  but  modern  systems  of  manufacture 
favor  their  formation.  Then  trusts  are  growing 
in  number,  and  threaten  to  engross  every  pro- 
duction, every  business.  Laws  seem  ineffectual 
in  arresting  their  progress,  because  they  have 
become  more  powerful  than  law.  They  direct 
the  making  of  laws;  and  they  influence  their 
interpretation  and  escape  their  penaltv. 

It  seems  reasonable  to  believe  that  the  most 
effectual  means  to  abolish  trusts  would  be  to 
remove  the  conditions  which  have  made  them 
possible.  Many  of  these  trusts  could  not  exist 
under  the  old  system  of  hand  work.  Every  little 
town  and  hamlet  then  had  some  little  manufac- 


224  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

tory  or  shop  in  which  raw  material  was  made 
into  articles  of  use  or  luxury  for  the  inhabitants 
of  the  town  and  surrounding  country.  It  would 
be  practically  impossible  to  unite  these  innumer- 
able little  shops  under  one  control,  or  to  form  a 
trust  out  of  these  thousands  of  independent  pro- 
ducers. 

Some  of  our  wise  men  proclaimed  that  confi- 
dence was  the  only  thing  necessary  to  restore 
prosperity;  and  when  confidence  came  after  a 
protracted  period  of  limited  production,  on  ac- 
count of  glutted  markets,  producers  set  all  their 
machinery  agoing,  and  turned  out  goods  at  an 
enormous  rate.  The  tariff,  which  favored  home 
industries,  and  the  temporary  settlement  of  the 
money  question,  both  helped  to  restore  the  long 
lost  confidence;  but  the  sluggish  markets,  the 
lowered  wages,  the  shortened  employment,  the 
many  idle,  but  willing,  hands  are  beginning 
to  convince  our  wise  men  that  something  more 
than  confidence  is  necessary  for  permanent 
prosperity. 

The  means  of  production  are  being  con- 
stantly increased,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 


THE  OUTLOOK.  225 

present  facilities  are  vastly  in  excess  of  the 
demand.  Every  day  new  methods  are  devised 
for  increasing  the  producing  power  and  lessen- 
ing the  cost;  and  most  of  these  methods  are 
established  on  the  principle  of  displacing  hand 
work  by  machinery,  as  this  seems  to  be  the  most 
effective  means  of  accomplishing  the  desired 
result.  The  Patent  Office*  is  overwhelmed  with 
devices  for  displacing  labor,  and  yet  our  states- 
men are  planning  all  sorts  of  schemes,  but  the 
true  one,  to  bring  back  prosperity. 

Producers  must  look  to  the  great  mass  of 
toilers  for  consumption,  and  it  would  be  wise 
policy  to  offer  every  facility  for  increasing  the 
consuming  power  in  order  to  increase  the  sales. 
Greed,  however,  seems  to  have  more  influence 
over  the  acts  of  men  than  wisdom;  and  our  pro- 
ducers cripple  the  consuming  power  and  increase 
their  productions  in  the  expectations  of  greater 
gain.  Foreign  demand  for  our  products  must 
increase  at  an  enormous  rate  to  keep  pace  with 
our  enormously  increased  production.  Where 

*There  were   twenty-five  thousand   new  patents 
presented  to  the  Patent  Office  last  year. 


226  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

can  we  find  this  market  ?  Europe  is  already 
combining  against  our  cheap  machine-made 
goods.  The  mechanics  of  other  lands  are  pro- 
testing against  the  use  of  our  machine-made 
goods  in  their  countries,  because  they  are  not 
able  to  compete  with  them,  and  the^  degrade 
their  trades  and  lower  wages. 

Americans  boast  of  their  ingenuity  which 
enables  their  producers  to  sell  their  goods  at  a 
profit  in  countries  where  labor  is  very  cheap. 
But  what  benefit  is  there  in  the  system  ?  Do 
the  workers  of  America  profit  by  this  system  ? 
There  is  not  wrork*  enough  here  for  all  the  toilers, 
even  under  the  present  enormous  productions; 
and  wages  are  only  kept  up  to  the  living  point 
by  the  continual  and  persistent  struggle  of 
trades  unions.  Does  the  government  profit  by 
the  enormous  export  trade?  The  government 
has  hard  work  to  keep  from  bankruptcy  ;  it 


*"Men  in  this  nineteenth  century  are  today  •with- 
out any  other  alternative  than  to  steal  or  starve.  I 
meet  them  every  day.  They  are  good  men  of  the  city, 
but  they  are  unfortunate.  They  are  not  to  blame." 
Mayor  Jones,  Toledo. 


THE  OUTLOOK. 

is  continually  running  behind  its  actual 
expenditures.* 

A  few  shrewd  producers,  operators  and 
brokers  make  enormous  fortunes  out  of  the 
machine-producing  systems  whilst  the  great 
mass  of  toilers  and  the  country  in  general,  are 
in  far  poorer  condition  than  they  would  be 
under  the  old  method  of  hand  work  and  slow 
production.  If  all  this  is  true  now,  with  an 
enormous  export  trade,  general  depression  must 
soon  follow  when  our  foreign  trade  is  notably 
lessened  in  volume. 

The  shortage  in  the  wheat  supply  of  Europe 
has  created  an  abnormal  demand  for  our  grain, 
and  has  given  an  impetus  to  all  our  industries  by 
placing  money  in  the  hands  of  the  farmers ;  but 
this  demand  is  only  temporary  and  may  not  exist 
again  for  many  years.  Even  with  the  present 
enormous  exports,**  our  producing  capacity 


*The  governments  of  Europe  can  support  enor- 
mous armies  and  still  have  a  balance  in  their  treas- 
uries, whilst  ours  with  an  insignificant  budget  runs 
behind. 

**The  exports  this  year  (1897)  have  excelled  the 
billion  dollar  mark,  the  highest  in  our  history. 


228  POPULAK  PKOGBESS. 

is  not  fully  employed,*  and  thousands  of 
Idle  but  willing  men  are  walking  the  streets 
looking  for  work;  yet  all  our  clairvoyant 
wise  men  can  see  Prosperity's  rays  advanc- 
ing over  the  mountain  tops,  dispelling  the 
gloom  that  has  long  settled  over  the  land.  It 
may  be  only  an  ignis  fatuus  that  these  wise  men 
see,  for  present  conditions  do  not  indicate  proxi- 
mate permanent  prosperity.  We  are  now  pro- 
ducing for  foreign  markets,  yet  not  over  one-half 
or  three-fourths  of  our  producing  capacity  is  in 
actual  operation,  and  it  seems  as  if  this  amount 
must  decrease  instead  of  increase,  because  the 
abnormal  demand  for  products  was  caused  by 
the  accidental  shortage  in  the  food  supply  of  the 
European  markets. 

Europe  is  discussing  means  and  methods  of 
supplying  its  own  markets  with  food  products 
and  manufactured  goods  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
American  article.  We  have  displaced  a  larger 

amount  of  high  priced  labor  with  machinery, 

*Carroll  D.  Wrig-ht  says  only  about  75  per  cent, 
of  our  capacity  to  produce  is  now  employed.  (Note 
to  N.  Y.  World,  Dec.  12,  1897.)  Very  probably  much 
less  than  75  per  cent,  in  actual  operation,  and  the 
proportion  may  be  nearer  45  per  cent,  than  75  per 
cent.— T.  D. 


THE  OUTLOOK.  229 

and  have  lessened  the  cost  of  production;  but 
they  may  go  farther  in  the  economic  process  than 
we  have,  and  may  thus  force  our  goods  out  of 
their  markets. 

Labor  leaders  resort  to  all  plausible  expedients 
to  improve  the  condition  of  the  toilers,  but  they 
do  not  seem  to  make  much  progress;  they  are 
even  losing  ground.  We  cannot  hope  that  men  will 
meekly  submit  to  conditions  which  deprive  them 
of  their  constitutional  right  to  the  means  of  pur- 
suing happiness,  and  if  they  find  that  the  peaceful 
methods  of  reason  and  agitation  fail,  it  would  not 
be  surprising  to  see  them  resort  to  force.  We 
depend  in  great  measure  now  upon  foreign 
markets  for  the  sale  of  our  surplus  products.  If 
our  foreign  trade  should  diminish,  our  industries 
must  suffer.  All  European  nations  seem  more 
intent  now  upon  extending  trade  than  upon 
acquiring  territory;  and  it  is  their  policy  to  ex- 
clude American  products  not  only  from  their  own 
markets,  but  also  from  the  East.  Loss  of  our  for- 
eign markets  would  cripple  our  commerce,  and 
would  inflict  incalculable  loss  upon  our  home 
prosperity.  Our  statesmen  see,  in  the  prospective 


230  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

dismemberment  of  China,  a  menace  to  our  com- 
merce in  the  East.  European  control  in  China 
would  not  only  exclude  our  products  from  that 
country,  but  would  introduce  a  new  industrial 
competitor  into  the  world  that  would  deprive 
America  of  her  commercial  supremacy.  "We 
cannot  permit  this  with  out  sinking  to  the  position 
of  a  third  or  fourth  rate  nation,  helpless,  de- 
graded, without  influence  among  the  nations  of 
the  earth."* 

If  ever  such  dire  foreboding  should  come  true, 
we  may  assign  not  the  dismemberment  of  China, 
nor  the  loss  of  foreign  markets,  but  our  own 
stupid  ideas  of  industrial  progress  as  the  cause  of 
the  disaster.  Why  should  our  national  supremacy 
depend  upon  China,  or  upon  any  other  foreign 
country  ?  We  have  all  the  elements  of  stable 
greatness  in  our  own  land ;  why,  then,  should  we 
depend  upon  other  countries  for  our  prosperity? 
It  is  an  element  of  decay  in  our  national  life 
when  we  must  depend  upon  foreign  nations  for 
our  internal  prosperity  and  strength. 

*Senator  Fuller  in  the  New  York  World,  Jan.  3, 
1898.  He  feared  that  Russia  and  Germany  would 
monopolize  the  trade  of  the  East  and  drive  our  com- 
merce from  that  part  of  the  world. 


THE  OUTLOOK. 

The  low  rumblings  of  discontent  are  heard  here 
and  there  over  the  earth  like  the  crunching  01 
stones  in  a  volcano  in  the  throes  of  an  eruption. 
These  are  the  protests  of  labor  against  the  indus- 
trial slavery  into  which  they  are  being  led.  It 
is  a  warning  which  Xature  always  gives  of  im- 
pending disaster.  The  remedy  for  all  our  ills  lies 
in  the  hands  of  the  people.  The  people  make 
the  laws ;  the  people  are  the  government.  But  the 
people  only  bellow  and  destroy  when  their  rights 
are  trampled  on  and  they  are  injured,  like  the 
huge  elephant  that  uses  his  immense  physical 
power  to  smash  everything  about  as  evidencs  of 
his  rage. 

This  land  of  freedom  and  joyful  liberty  should 
not  be  the  home  of  discontent;  should  not  be 
favorable  to  the  growth  of  wild  anarchy  or  the 
spirit  of  communism.  These  are  associated  in 
our  minds  with  lands  where  liberty  is  unknown, 
where  the  knout  of  the  master  silences  the  pro- 
test of  the  serf,  and  where  the  will  of  the  ruler  ia 
law.  The  tyrant's  domain  is  anarchy's  home. 
Anarchy  is  rebellion  against  law,  but  where  the 
people  make  the  laws  it  should  not  thrive.  Com- 


232  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

munism  should  not  live  in  a  land  of  vast  oppor- 
tunities that  are  open  to  all,  and  where  success 
is  the  reward  of  individual  energy,  talent  and 
worth.  These  wild  exotics,  anarchy  and  com- 
munism, have  found  this  land  congenial  to  their 
spirits  and  the  laws  favorable  to  their  life. 

Men  are  not  satisfied  with  the  opportunities  of 
attaining  wealth  which  bounteous  nature  and  the 
conditions  of  a  civilized  society  offer;  but  they 
prey  upon  their  fellow  men,  and  make  them 
serve  as  the  instruments  of  their  greed.  Men 
suborn  legislatures,  and  secure  laws  which  enrich 
them  at  the  expense  of  their  fellow  men.  No 
tyrant's  rule  is  more  obnoxious  than  the  servitude 
engendered  by  unjust  laws.  What  matters  it  to 
the  subjects  whether  an  unjust  law  is  born  of  the 
over-weening  pride  of  the  heartless  tyrant,  or  the 
insidious  bribe  of  the  greedy  monopolist  ?  The 
slavery  is  the  same.  There  is  even  greater  usurpa- 
tion of  rights  in  the  latter  case.  Men  more  will- 
ingly resign  to  power  than  to  fraud;  and  anarchy 
may  as  readily  be  engendered  in  the  home  of  the 
free  as  in  the  land  of  the  tyrant. 


THE  OUTLOOK.  233 

"We  fondly  believe  that  our  land  is  free  from 
the  ills  of  a  despot's  rule.  We  elect  our  rulers; 
we  make  our  laws.  The  downtrodden  of  other 
lands  fly  hither  for  protection,  and  for  the  enjoy- 
ment of  liberty  denied  in  their  native  homes.  The 
outlaws  have  come  too,  not  to  enjoy  liberty,  but 
to  teach  their  fellow  men  to  rebel  against  the 
tyranny  of  free  institutions.  Anarchy  and  its 
kindred  monster,  communism,  have  found  some 
favor  in  this  land.*  Communism,  in  a  modified 
form,  is  advocated  by  men  of  different  callings  as 
a  remedy  for  the  evils  of  municipal  and  state 
government.  Men  can  learn  to  hate  the  work  of 
their  own  hands.  Institutions  that  have  grown 
up  under  the  fostering  care  of  our  laws  have 
become  distasteful,  and  men  are  crying  out 
against  their  existence. 

The  red  flag  of  anarchy  would  find  no  favor 
here  if  men  were  not  dissatisfied  with  their  lot. 
Foreign  followers  of  this  mad  delusion  should  be 
charmed  and  converted  from  their  wild  dreams, 

when  they  reach  these  shores,  by  the  advantages 

*Prince  Propotkin  claims  that  they  are  rapidly 
advancing  here,  whilst  others  maintain  that  all  the 
followers  of  these  principles  are  foreigners. 


234  POPULAR  PROGRESS. 

of  free  government  and  the  opportunities  of  indi- 
vidual liberty.  Instead  of  being  lured  to  America 
to  enjoy  the  blessings  of  liberty,  they  have  come 
here  to  propogate  their  theories.  Free  govern- 
ment must  fail  when  anarchy  can  find  friends  in 
a  free  land.  They  are  not  led  hither  by  love,  but 
by  hate  and  hope.  Like  the  vultures  that  scent 
the  carrion  from  afar,  they  imagine  that  the 
dissolution  of  our  national  existence  is  near,  and 
they  are  lured  hither  by  the  hope  of  prey. 

New  economic  methods  are  driving  the  British 
workmen  to  the  wall.  Labor-saving  machinery 
is  rapidly  displacing  hand  work,  so  that  the 
British  manufacturer  may  compete  with  his 
American  rival.  British  trades  unions  have  just 
abandoned  the  greatest  struggle  in  their  history 
for  better  conditions.  They  contended  for  a 
shorter  day,  for  eight  hours,  in  the  hope  that  this 
would  create  a  greater  demand  for  labor;  but 
they  lost ;  they  cannot  successfully  cope  with 
machinery  in  economic  production.  When 
peaceable  methods  of  resistance  to  injustice 
come  to  naught,  the  next  step  will  be  to  resort 
to  force. 


THE  OUTLOOK.  £35 

When  the  proletariat  believe  that  force  is 
necessary  to  repel  the  invaders  of  their  rights  and 
to  protect  their  lives,  then  reason  flies,  and  all 
the  destructive  instincts  of  the  wild  and  mad- 
dened animal  come  into  play.  Rank,  wealth, 
property  and  power  must  give  way  before  this 
ungovernable  force.* 

Let  the  cry  of  revolution  be  heard  in  England 
and  it  will  soon  be  repeated  in  New  York.  Amer- 
icans are  patient  and  patriotic.  They  love  their 
country,  their  institutions,  their  liberty  and 
homes.  It  is  this  very  love  which  would  lead 
Americans  to  rebel  against  the  usurpation  of 
their  rights  and  the  destruction  of  their  homes. 
Men  may  be  driven  to  desperation  by  free  bodies 
as  well  as  by  tyrannical  despots.  Americans 
freed  the  black  slaves  by  force  of  arms,  and  the 
carnage  of  war  may  be  necessary  to  free  the  white 
toilers  from  industrial  slavery. 

No  one  would  like  to  see  this  fair  land  devas- 
tated by  the  horrors  of  war;  to  see  the  young  and 

*The  oldest  and  wisest  statesman  of  England, 
Gladstone,  believes  that  the  greatest  danger  that 
threatens  England  at  the  present  time  is  not  the  mili- 
tary power  of  any  of  the  European  nations,  but  the 
trades  unions  of  dissatisfied  British  workmen. 


236  POPULAR  PROGEESS. 

the  middle-aged  severing  the  tender  ties  of  home, 
never  more  to  return;  yet  such  is  the  greed  and 
obstinacy  of  men  that,  where  important  interests 
are  involved,  they  will  resort  to  arms  rather  than 
be  guided  by  reason. 

This  should  be  a  land  of  happy  homes,  of 
plenty  and  content.  Its  resources  are  practically 
limitless  and  inexhaustible.  There  is  abundance 
for  all;  but  some  choose  to  despoil  their  fellow 
men  instead  of  obtaining  their  share  from  the 
great  storehouse  of  Nature,  or  through  the  honor- 
able methods  of  professional,  business  or  indus- 
trial life.  Plenty  or  Want  will  reign  over  the 
land  at  the  call  of  men.  Nature  has  boundless 
stores  of  wealth;  and  the  opportunities  of 
advancement  are  without  limit  in  this  free  land. 
What  shall  our  future  be  ?  Shall  it  be  a  future 
of  prosperity,  of  progress,  of  peace  and  content; 
or  shall  it  be  a  future  of  ruin,  of  want,  of  desola- 
tion and  decay  ?  It  will  be  whatever  we  decide 
to  make  it. 


UCSB   LIBRARY 


A     000  606  507     2 


